Maharashtra Election Results 2019: `Outsider' Chandrakant Patil wins from Pune's Kothrud

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil won from Kothrud Assembly constituency in Pune city by a margin of 25,495 votes on Thursday. Patil, senior state minister who was battling the perception that he was an outsider -- as he hails from Kolhapur -- defeated Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) Kishore Shinde.

The Congress and NCP had supported the MNS candidate. Patil, who is a member of the Legislative Council at present, polled1,05,246 votes, against Shinde's 79,751. Of the total 1,95,157 votes cast, 4,028 went to NOTA. After Patil's candidature was announced, posters had come up in Kothrud calling him an "outsider" and expressing resentment.

Medha Kulkarni, the sitting Kothrud MLA of the BJP, was denied ticket to accommodate Patil, who was contesting his first assembly election, as the seat was considered to be safe for the party Kulkarni had won the 2014 election by a margin of 64,662 votes.

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As the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is set to retain power in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the people of the state have blessed the NDA with immense affection. 

He said the NDA is "humbled" to have got the people's support yet again. "Our work towards Maharashtra's progress continues! I salute each and every karyakarta (worker) of the BJP, Shiv Sena and our entire NDA family for their hard work," Modi tweeted.

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Maharashtra Assembly Elections

In the saffron alliance, BJP contested on 150 seats, and Shiv Sena fought on 124 seats in Maharashtra. Alliance partners of BJP fielded 14 candidates on the party's lotus symbol. Meanwhile, the Congress contested the polls in alliance with the NCP. Both parties contested on 125 seats each in the 288-member Assembly and its allies on the remaining 38 seats.

The opposition tried to corner the BJP government on the handling of the economy with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blaming the ruling party for the economic slowdown, unemployment, highlighting issues like "failure" of demonetisation and GST rollout. The BJP, on the other hand, is seeking a second straight term under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra.

(With PTI inputs)