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In a last battle before the state Assembly polls, the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra not only managed to keep its flock together thereby winning nine of the 11 Legislative Council seats it contested, but also dealt a setback to the Opposition MVA, which was riding high on the recent Lok Sabha victory in which it won 31 out of the 48 seats in the state. The results also, for now, have put to rest rumours about certain MLAs of Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena of being in touch with Opposition parties for crossing over, ahead of the Assembly elections slated in October-November.
Riding high on the success it gained in the Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition had hoped to attract ruling side MLAs to their side and had fielded three candidates. However, as per the preliminary estimate, seven MLAs from the Opposition MVA cross-voted in favour of the ruling side.
On the other hand, all nine candidates of ruling allaince secured victory. Five candidates fielded by the BJP — party national secretary Pankaja Munde (26 votes), former minister Parinay Phuke (26 votes), former Pune Mayor Yogesh Tilekar (26 votes), Matang community (Scheduled Caste) leader Amit Gorkhe (23 votes) and former minister and Rayat Kranti Paksha chief Sadabhau Khot — won the election in counting of second preference votes. Besides, NCP led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had given tickets to Rajesh Vitekar (23 votes), a party leader from Parbhani district, and party general secretary Shivajirao Garje (24 votes) who secured victory. Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had nominated former Lok Sabha MPs Bhawna Gavli (26 votes) and Krupal Tumane (23 votes) and both won in the first round.
The Congress had renominated MLC Pradnya Satav who secured victory by winning 25 votes. Shiv Sena (UBT) had given the ticket to party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Milind Narvekar, who couldn’t reach the necessary quota of 23 votes in the first round and won only in the second round.
“Our strategy was to not disturb our ally and ensure that we gain extra votes from outside. It worked and we managed to win nine seats,” said Ajit Pawar. He added that the NCP had 42 MLAs and his party has received support of 47. “I thank all these MLAs who supported us,” said Pawar.
Earlier, it was speculated that MLAs from Ajit Pawar’s NCP will shift towards Sharad Pawar after the opposition victory in Lok Sabha. However results have shown that no such shift has taken place, instead at least 7 MLAs from Congress have cross-voted in favour of the ruling alliance.
As per the numerical strength, three major parties in Opposition has a strength of 65 MLAs but it has won only 59 votes. Additionally, all smaller parties have voted in favour of the ruling alliance.
In the MVA camp, the Congress had 37 MLAs. While one vote was reportedly turned invalid, six have gone in favour of the ruling alliance. Narvekar, whose party Sena (UBT) had 16 MLAs, received support of six Congress MLAs, instead of seven as decided in the strategy meet, earlier. The NCP (SP) has 12 MLAs and all these votes went to Jayant Patil of PWP. However, Patil could not win any other vote leading to his defeat.
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