After Lok Sabha Setback, How NDA-Led Mahayuti Swept Maharashtra Council Polls

Mumbai: In a major setback for INDI alliance, the NDA-led Mahayuti alliance swept the Maharashtra MLC elections on Friday by wining all the nine seats it contested on. After it claimed 9 seats out of 11, celebrations erupted across the ruling Mahayuti alliance. 

After suffering a jolt in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls where NDA could not deliver stunning performance as it anticipated while Mahavikas Agadhi alliance (MVA) gave an impressive performance but the Friday results have turned the table. The Mahayuti alliance comprises BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) whereas the opposition MVA alliance, comprises of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

All nine candidates of the Mahayuti alliance, including BJP's Pankaja Munde, emerged victorious in the biennial legislative council elections.

NCP-Backed Jayant Patil Loses

Similarly, from the MVA alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Milind Narvekar and Congress's Pragya Satav won the polls while Jayant Patil from the Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP), who was backed by Nationalist Congress Party (SP), lost the elections.

There were 12 candidates in the poll race for the 11 seats in the upper house of the state legislature where the 274 current MLAs form the electoral college. According to officials, all the 274 MLAs cast their votes. 

According to the sources, mass cross-voting was witnessed during the polls from the opposition MLAs, leading to a comfortable win for the ruling alliance. 

During the high-stake MLC elections, the BJP had fielded five candidates, while the allies Shinde Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP had fielded two candidates each and all of them managed to win the elections comfortably. The opposition MVA alliance had fielded three candidates.

Internal Tensions in Congress?

Closing looking at the picture, it seems that the seven votes of the Congress were split. The Congress has a total of 37 MLAs in the state. Out of 37, 25 MLAs gave their first preference votes to Pragya Satav, which indicated that the seven votes went to other parties, highlighting internal tensions.

Milind Narvekar received 22 first-preference votes, whereas the Uddhav Sena only has 15 members which implies that that at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted.

Winning Candidates

Eight candidates won the high-stake polls by receiving first preference votes. The remaining candidates had to depend on the second choice of votes.

A minimum of 23 first preference votes was needed to win the poll. Candidates who get equal or more votes generaly are declared winners. The votes received by the candidates are as follows.

BJP Candidates
 

• Pankaja Munde - 26 (Winner)
• Parinay Fuke - 26 (winner)
• Amit Gorkhe - 26 (Winner)
• Yogesh Tilekar - 26 (Winner)
• Sadabhau Khot - 14 (winner in second round)
•  

NCP (Ajit Pawar) Candidates

• Shivaji Rao Garje - 24 (Winner)
• Rajesh Witekar - 23 (Winner)
• Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde Group) Candidates
• Kripal Tumane - 24 (Winner)
• Bhavna Gawli - 24 (Winner)

Congress Candidate

• Pragya Satav - 25 (Won)
• Shiv Sena (UBT) Candidate
• Milind Narvekar - 22 (winner in second round)

PWP

• Jayant Patil - 12 (lost) 

Key Takeaways:

• Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Milind Narvekar claimed victory in the last phase, despite not having the required strength of MLAs.
• The five winning candidates of the BJP include two OBC candidates, one Dalit, one Maratha. The winning list also include the name of Pankaja Munde, who had recently faced defeat in the Lok Sabha elections from Beed.
• Meanwhile, CM Shinde fielded Bhavna Gawli and Krupal Tumhane in the polls race by denying seats to sitting MLAs.
• Though Jayant Patil had NCP (Sharad Pawar) backing, he lost the polls due to lack of support from other MVA allies.
• Notably, Congress MLAs which gave 25 votes to Pragya Satav and around six or seven votes to Narvekar, mystery still remains over the possibility of cross-voting of nearly seven MLAs.
• The polls results also reflect that despite Mahayuti alliance not performing well in LS polls, the alliance is intact as the MLAs who went with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar still support them.
• Congres, which got maximum seats in the LS polls in the state, doesn't have full control over its MLAs.