Council polls: Mahayuti wins two seats, MVA bags three

Counting for the five seats began at 8am on Tuesday and continued till late in the evening on Wednesday. The presence of several heavyweight contestants and the need to count second and subsequent preference votes delayed declaration of the final results

Mumbai: The ruling Mahayuti alliance has bagged two seats while the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition has secured three out of five seats in the legislative council, for which polling was held last Friday.

Council polls: Mahayuti wins two seats, MVA bags three

According to the results declared late in the evening on Wednesday following more than 30 hours of counting, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Pune teachers’ constituency, while Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won the Amravati teachers’ seat. The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), which was seen struggling till recently, bagged the Aurangabad and Pune graduates’ constituencies, while its MVA ally Congress clinched the Nagpur graduates’ constituency in a closely contested battle.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), which is part of the MVA, drew a blank, as did the Suntera Pawar-led NCP, which is part of the Mahayuti alliance.

Counting for all five seats began at 8am on Tuesday and continued till the evening on Wednesday. The presence of several heavyweight contestants and the need to count second and subsequent preference votes delayed declaration of the final results, officials said.

In the Nagpur graduates’ constituency, BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale, a trusted lieutenant of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, lost to Congress nominee and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari during the counting of second preference votes.

The constituency comprises a prestigious seat for the BJP, and its past MLCs include Nitin Gadkari and Gangadharrao Fadnavis, the chief minister’s father. Earlier this month, the chief minister held a series of meetings with party members and convinced former MLC Anil Sole, who had filed his nomination as an independent candidate, to withdraw from the fray.

During the first two rounds of counting of first preference votes for the constituency, Kohale secured a lead with 61,215 votes compared to Wanjari’s 57,052 votes, while independent candidate Nitesh Karale bagged 24,249 votes.

As the winning quota for the seat was set at 75,438 votes, and Kohale failed to reach the target in the first round, second preference votes were counted on Wednesday evening. Eventually, Wanjari won with the help of second preference votes from those who had chosen Karale as their first preference. The poll outcome highlights growing dissatisfaction among graduates and the general public with the BJP over inflation, unemployment, and the recent MPSC exam scam.

In the Pune teachers’ constituency, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade emerged as winner with 18,385 votes, followed by independent candidate Sachin Sanap, who was backed by the Shiv Sena and polled 11,983 votes. Congress candidate and sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar came third with 8,935 votes.

In the Pune graduates’ constituency, NCP (SP) candidate Harshada Deshmukh was declared winner, defeating BJP candidate Smita Jadhav.

In the Amravati teachers’ constituency, sitting MLC from the Shiv Sena Kiran Sarnaik retained the seat, defeating Aditi Pohare of the Congress. Shiv Sena rebel candidate Shrikant Deshpande, who contested against Sarnaik, also polled a sizable number of votes.

In the Aurangabad graduates’ constituency, NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil, brother of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Rahul Patil, won by a substantial margin. He defeated NCP candidate Satish Chavan, a three-term MLC from the constituency.

All five constituencies witnessed rebellions within both the Mahayuti and the MVA, affecting prospects of their official candidates. In the Nagpur graduates’ constituency, NCP (SP) rebel Karale polled a sizable number of votes, though second preference votes helped Wanjari retain the seat.

In the Pune teachers’ constituency, although BJP’s Gawade secured victory, his winning margin shrunk due to a good show by independent candidate Sachin Sanap, who was backed by the Shiv Sena.

In the Amravati teachers’ constituency, BJP MP Anil Bonde’s sister, Sangeeta Shinde, and Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Deshpande contested against the Mahayuti’s Sarnaik. However, Sarnaik maintained the lead from the first round of counting.

The results came as a setback for the Congress, which lost one of its seats – the Pune teachers’ constituency – to the BJP. The party attributed the defeat to alleged misuse of money and power by the ruling alliance. Sachin Sawant, general secretary, Maharashtra Congress, said that the party also failed to ensure voter registration ahead of the election.

“Our organisational weakness resulted in low voter registration. We will conduct a proper introspection of the results,” Sawant said.

The NCP described the defeat of its sitting MLC Satish Chavan in Aurangabad as a wake-up call.

“Today’s council results are a clear and significant warning. To regain the people’s trust, reset the party’s priorities and bring about organisational reforms, an immediate and rigorous self-examination is necessary. It is time to introspect and fix the organisational structure,” NCP national working president Praful Patel said in a post on X.

A total of 1.06 million graduate and teacher voters were eligible to vote across 2,419 polling stations in the five constituencies. Turnout was highest in the Amravati teachers’ constituency at 91.08%, followed by Pune teachers’ at 85.87%. The Nagpur graduates’ constituency recorded a turnout of 64.76%, Pune graduates’ 62.78%, and Aurangabad graduates’ 58.67%.