Party loses 3 of 5 seats contested in Maharashtra

The losing streak of the Congress continued in the biennial Legislative Council polls in Maharashtra, where it lost two of the three seats it contested. Ally NCP, fared much better.

The losing streak of the Congress continued in the biennial Legislative Council polls in Maharashtra, where it lost two of the three seats it contested. Ally NCP, fared much better.

This was a major setback for the Congress, coming on the heels of its poor performance in local bodies elections.

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The results could lead to a change in the power dynamics of the legislative council, with the NCP demanding the post of the chairman, since its tally in the house now stands at 26. The Congress has 22 seats.

The results of the six seats saw Congress losing both Amravati and Chandrapur-Gadchiroli-Wardha to BJP. It, however, managed to retain Latur, which was contested by Dilip Deshmukh, brother of Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, for the third time.

Of the three seats contested by NCP, it won two — Parbhani and Raigad — while the results of the third, Nasik, remained undecided as both NCP and Sena polled equal number of votes.

Privately, the Congress blamed NCP for the loss in Chandrapur and Amravati, an allegation the NCP denied.