It was three seats each for the Maharashtra ruling alliance and the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls even as the coalition government had hoped to win big in the elections for the upper house. Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who has been a relentless government critic, has been elected back to the Rajya Sabha. Apart from Raut, NCP's Praful Patel and the Congress's Imran Pratapgarhi have won from the ruling alliance. But NCP leader Sanjay Pawar's defeat has turned out to be an upset.
From the BJP, union minister Piyush Goyal, and two other leaders - Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik - have got elected to the upper house. "It's a happy moment for us as all three BJP candidates have won," Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of opposition, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI after the late-night drama was over.
Accusing the Election Commission of favouring the BJP, Raut told reporters, “Election Commission made our one vote invalid. We objected to two votes but no action was taken on that. Election Commission favoured them.”
The 288-member assembly's strength was brought down to 285 with absence of two NCP leaders - Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh - after they were arrested in corruption cases; another seat was left vacant due to Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke's death.
As continued stretched late into night, the BJP and the ruling MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) exchanged charges with the ruling coalition being accused of showing ballot papers.
{{/usCountry}}As continued stretched late into night, the BJP and the ruling MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) exchanged charges with the ruling coalition being accused of showing ballot papers.
{{/usCountry}}The MVA lodged complaint against a BJP MLA and an independent supporting BJP. The Election Commission of India (ECI) declared the vote of a Sena MLA, Suhas Kande, invalid. Though 285 MLAs voted, 284 votes were considered valid after rejecting Kande's vote.
Maharashtra was one of the four states on Friday where voting was held for 16 Rajya Sabha seats.
(With inputs from ANI)