BJP, Congress share spoils
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Shiv Sena, emerged marginally ahead of Maharashtra's ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine in elections to the 48 parliamentary seats in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Shiv Sena, emerged marginally ahead of Maharashtra's ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine in elections to the 48 parliamentary seats in the state.
The BJP-Shiv Sena coalition won 25 Lok Sabha while the Congress and its allies like the NCP and the Republican Party-Athavale bagged 23 seats.
In the commercial capital of Mumbai, the BJP-Shive Sena combine was wiped out with the Congress picking almost all the seats.
Congress candidates Milind Deora (Mumbai South), Sunil Dutt (Mumbai North West), Eknath Gaikwad (Mumbai North Central), Gurudas Kamath (Mumbai North East) and Govinda (Mumbai North) emerged victorious, defeating stalwarts like petroleum minister Ram Naik, minister of state for power Jaywantiben Mehta and Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi.
But the picture was different in the interiors of the state.
The Shiv Sena won the Thane seat with its candidate Prakash Paranjpe defeating his Congress rival Nakul Patel and NCP candidate Prabhakar Hegale.
Thane is a Shiv Sena stronghold but because of differences within the party, it had lost the seat to the Congress in the 1999 elections.
The Sena also won the Ratnagiri seat, where its candidate Anant Geete polled 54.99 per cent votes to defeat NCP's Ziman Bhagoji.
The Sena repeated its winning streak in Rajapur, with its candidate Suresh Prabhu polling 51.07 percent votes to trounce Sudhir Sawant of the Congress.
The story was the same in the Congress bastion of Ramtek. Subodh Mohite received 36.97 per cent of the votes to win against his Congress rival Purohit Lal. In Aurangabad, Chandrakant Khaire of the Shiv Sena won against his nearest Congress rival, former chief minister Abdul Rehman Antulay, who polled only 38.31 percent of the votes.
Antulay, however, won from the Kolaba constituency defeating his nearest Shiv Sena rival Shyam Sawant.
In the reserved constituency of Osmanabad, Shiv Sena's Ramesh Narhire defeated NCP's Kondiba Dhobale. BJP's Patle Natthu won the Bhandara constituency, defeating NCP spokesman Praful Patel. The BJP also picked up the Malegoan reserved seat with its candidate Harishchandra Chavan defeating Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Pandu Gavit.
The BJP did exceedingly well in Beed where its candidate Jaysingrao Patil defeated his nearest NCP rival Radhakrishna Patil.
The Congress did well in Poona constituency where Suresh Kalmadi retained the seat, defeating BJP candidate Pradip Trimbak. In Yavatmal, Uttamrao Patil of the Congress defeated his nearest BJP rival Haribabu Rathod in a three-way contest that also included Rajabhau Thakre of the NCP.
In the fruit basket constituency of Dahanu, Congress candidate Shingada Barku won a three-cornered contest over BJP's Chintaman Wanga and BSP's Haji Abdullah.
In the Congress bastion of Sangli, the party's Prakashbapu Patil trounced Deepak Mhaisalkar of the BJP.
The NCP won the Baramati seat, where its chief Sharad Pawar defeated his BJP rival Prithviraj Jachak.