Maharashtra assembly elections 2019: BJP loses ground in CM Devendra Fadnavis' home district of Nagpur

Nagpur, the hometown of Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, turned out to be a tough electoral battleground for the BJP which could win just six of the 12 seats on offer in the district on Thursday. The BJP had won 11 of the 12 seats in Nagpur district in the 2014 assembly elections.

Besides Fadnavis, who won from Nagpur South West, the city is also hometown of another BJP heavyweight Nitin Gadkari, who is a senior Union minister. Of the 12 seats in Nagpur district, the BJP won six, the Congress four, the NCP one and an independent one.

The Congress won two seats each in Nagpur city and Nagpur rural. The NCP and an independent won one seat each in Nagpur rural. Former minister and Congress candidate from Nagpur North (SC)Nitin Raut won by a margin of 20,694 votes against his nearest rival, sitting BJP MLA Milind Mane. Raut secured 86,821 votes, while Mane got 66,127 votes.

Similarly, Congress city chief Vikas Thakre won by a margin of 6,367 votes from Nagpur West, defeating his nearest rival, sitting BJP MLA Sudhakar Deshmukh. Thakre secured 83,252, while Deshmukh secured 76,885 votes.

Sitting Congress MLA from Saoner Sunil Kedar won by a margin of 25,956 votes over his BJP rival Rajiv Potdar. Kedar secured 1,10,445 votes, while Potdar bagged 84,489 votes. In Umred, Congress candidate Raju Parwe defeated his nearest rival, sitting BJP MLA Sudhir Parwe, by a margin of 18,029 votes. Raju Parwe secured 91,968 votes, while Sudhir Parwe got 73,939 votes.

Former minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh defeated his nearest rival from the BJP Charansingh Thakur by a margin of 17,057 in Katol. Deshmukh secured 96,842 votes, while Thakur got 79,785 votes. Shiv Sena rebel and independent candidate Ashish Jaiswal defeated the BJP's sitting BJP Mallikarjun Reddyby a margin of 24,413 votes in Ramtek in Nagpur rural. Jaiswal got 67,419 votes, while Reddy received 43,006 votes.

In Nagpur South, Congress candidate Girish Pandav lost to Mohan Mate of the BJP by 4,013 votes. The Congress secured 80,326 votes, while the BJP received 84,339 votes. In Nagpur Central, Congress youth leader Bunty Shelke gave a tough fight to the BJP's sitting MLA Vikas Kumbhare, who eventually won by4,124 votes.

In Kamptee, Tekchand Sawarkar of the BJP defeated Congress's Suresh Bhoyar by a margin of 11,116 votes. Sawarkar polled 1,18,182 as against Bhoyar's 1,07,066. The polling was held on October 21 and votes were counted on Thursday.