Maharashtra: In A Major Setback To Ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Alliance, BJP Wins Three Of Six Rajya Sabha Seats

In a major setback to Maharashtra's ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the BJP on Saturday (11 June) won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats, while the ruling alliance questioned the eight-hour delay in counting of votes.

The BJP candidates – Union Minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mhadik won the election.

Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, NCP’s Praful Patel and Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi also won the fiercely-fought elections.

Of the 284 valid votes, Goyal polled 48, Bonde 48, Mahadik 41.56, Raut 41, Pratapgarhi 44 and Patel 43.

Sena, which had fielded two candidates, managed to get Sanjay Raut elected.

The contest was for the sixth seat - for which the BJP had fielded former MP Dhananjay Mahadik and the Shiv Sena candidate was Sanjay Pawar - who lost, reports Indian Express.

Mahadik and Pawar hail from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.

The high-stake battle for the sixth seat turned out to be a nail-biting affair with the Congress and BJP trading charges, even approaching the Election Commission.

'Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra,' tweeted BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, whose refusal to have a consensus candidate for the Rajya Sabha led to elections in the state after 24 years.

The counting of votes started after an eight-hour delay amid complaints of cross voting and rules violation by the BJP and the ruling alliance.

Both BJP and the Shiv Sena approached the Election Commission, alleging cross voting and seeking disqualification of votes.

The poll panel directed the Rajya Sabha election returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande, after which the counting of votes got underway after 1 am. The first result was out in two hours.

Of the total 288 members in the state legislative Assembly, 285 voted in the Rajya Sabha election on Friday.

Two NCP members - state cabinet minister Nawab Malik and former home minister Anil Deshmukh - who are in judicial custody facing trial in two separate cases of money laundering, were disallowed by the court to cast their votes.

After the stunning setback, Congress leaders admitted shortcomings in coordination in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat told reporters in Vidhan Bhavan that it is a matter of study as to what went wrong.

“BJP was cunning in holding up the counting and getting one vote invalid. We were confident that all four of our candidates will win comfortably,” the Congress leader said.

Imran Pratapgarhi, the victorious Congress candidate said he was happy with his win but the defeat of Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar was unfortunate.

NCP leader Praful Patel said he will continue to make sure the concerns of Maharashtra are heard and addressed.

“A huge thank you to all my supporters and well wishers for electing me to serve as the Rajya Sabha Member of the Parliament. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Hon'ble Pawar Saheb and NCP for entrusting me with this responsibility,” he tweeted.

“I am deeply humbled by your support, and I want to assure you that I will continue to work day and night to make sure that your concerns and of my Maharashtra state are heard and addressed,” he added.

Raut blamed the poll panel for the defeat of the fourth MVA candidate.

“Election Commission made our one vote invalid. We objected to two votes but no action was taken on that demand. Election Commission favoured them (BJP),” Raut said.

(With inputs from PTI)