Maharashtra Legislative Council Polls: Mahayuti Alliance Wins 9 Out Of 11, Setback For MVA

The ruling alliance in Maharashtra won all nine seats it contested in the biennial elections to 11 Legislative Council seats on Friday, a victory that will boost the party's morale ahead of the assembly polls. However, the opposition MVA suffered a setback when a candidate supported by Sharad Pawar's party lost. 12 candidates competed in the high-stakes elections earlier in the day, and the results were released in the evening. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar and the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena won two seats each.

All three parties are part of the Mahayuti (grand alliance) in power, which did not fare well in the most recent Lok Sabha elections, taking home only 17 of the 48 seats available in Maharashtra. The winners of the elections were Congress candidate Pradnya Satav and close Shiv Sena (UBT) aide Milind Narvekar of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

But the MVA suffered a setback when Jayant Patil, the Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) candidate, lost the polls. Patil was backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), led by Sharad Pawar. The MVA, which won 30 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, is made up of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, the NCP (SP), and a few smaller parties.

But Jayant Patil, the Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) candidate, who was backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) led by Sharad Pawar, lost the polls, which dealt a blow to the MVA, which had made a strong showing in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 30 seats. On July 27, eleven members of the legislative council (MLCs) will have served out their six-year terms, making the election necessary.

The electoral college for the polls was the 288-member legislative assembly, which currently has 274 members. A minimum of 23 first-preference votes were needed for each victorious candidate. With 103 members, the BJP is the largest party in the assembly. The NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (38), Shiv Sena (UBT) (15), and NCP (SP) (10) are the next largest parties.

The BJP had fielded five candidates - former Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe and Sadabhau Khot, and its ally Shiv Sena two - former Lok Sabha MPs Krupal Tumane and Bhavana Gawali. NCP had given tickets to Shivajirao Garje and Rajesh Vitekar.

The Congress had nominated Satav for another term, while Sena (UBT) had fielded Narvekar. The third MVA constituent, NCP (SP), did not field its nominee and instead extended support to PWP's Jayant Patil. At least seven Congress MLAs defied the party's whip while voting in the council elections, results showed.

The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to its ally Sena (UBT)'s nominee Narvekar, party sources said.

Eventually, Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the victory of all nine Mahayuti candidates in the council polls was a trailer ahead of the assembly polls due in October.

Talking to reporters, Shinde said a false narrative was set by the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls and people were misled. "Mahayuti has registered a big win. This is a good start. A false narrative (that the Constitution will be changed by the BJP) was set. People were misled. Mahayuti's victory (in the legislative council polls) is a trailer," he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the opposition was claiming a candidate of the ruling alliance would lose but the results showed the Mahayuti got votes of not just its constituents but even from MVA legislators. Another Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, said he, Fadnavis and Shinde held multiple meetings to ensure better coordination and responsibilities were shared, which led to the victory of Mahayuti candidates.

Ajit Pawar, whose party could win just one Lok Sabha seat, maintained Mahayuti will work unitedly to ensure victory of the alliance in the upcoming assembly polls. NCP candidates Shivajirao Garje and Rajesh Vitekar won despite the Ajit Pawar-led party falling short of votes.

"We (NCP) had 42 votes but MLAs gave more votes to Vitekar and Garje. There were rumours there will be a split (in the NCP and some of its MLAs could cross vote)," Ajit Pawar said.