The crucial election of the legislative council, which happened on July 12 for 11 seats in Maharashtra, saw Mahayuti (Shiv Sena + BJP + NCP) managing to secure all their nine candidates with the required quota of 23 votes. However, Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA), which had put forth three candidates, managed to secure only two seats. Jayant Patil, a senior leader of the Peasants and Workers Party in Maharashtra, who had the support of Sharad Pawar and the NCP (SP), lost this election as he couldn’t secure the 23 votes required to win the seat as per the quota.
Ajit Pawar-led NCP, though had two candidates in the fray, fell short by almost 8 votes. Everyone had thought that one of Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s candidates would lose and the MVA would have all their three candidates. As per reports, eight MLAs of the Congress cross-voted in the MLC election, and helped Ajit Pawar-led NCP secure a win for both its candidates. Congress State chief Nana Patole has stated, “The party will take strict disciplinary action against those who have cross-voted.”
This election was seen as a semi-final before the upcoming state assembly polls. Both factions kept their MLAs in different hotels in Mumbai so that they wouldn’t be influenced by the opposition camp.
The election takes place through secret ballot voting, and two years ago, the BJP alone had defeated the then-ruling MVA alliance as many MVA leaders had done cross-voting.
In this election, the ruling Mahayuti had put forth nine candidates. The BJP had five candidates, having the strength of 103 MLAs. This guaranteed four seats and left it 12 short for its fifth. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which had fielded two candidates, has 37 MLAs, making them short of nine votes. Ajit Pawar’s NCP had 39 MLAs and was short of seven votes. The Mahayuti, therefore, was short by a total of 28 votes to win the nine seats it contested. Across the aisle, the Congress has 37 MLAs but named only one candidate, giving it 14 surplus votes meant to be distributed amongst its MVA partners. The NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar was supporting Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party, but NCP had 13 MLAs, so he needed 10 more votes. But the final result didn’t come in favour of the MVA as they lost one seat to Mahayuti.
The ruling Mahayuti leaders have credited this win to Devendra Fadnavis, as his magic with numbers has worked thrice in a row for them: twice in 2022 during the Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Council elections, and now again in 2024 during the 11 seats contest of the State Legislative Council.
According to official data, BJP’s Pankaja Munde got 26 votes, Parinay Phuke got 26 votes, Yogesh Tilekar got 26 votes, and Amit Gorkhe also got 26 votes. The fifth BJP candidate, Sadabhau Khot, won with second preference votes, receiving 23 votes. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena candidate Bhavana Gawali got 24 votes, and Krupal Tumane got 25 first preference votes. The NCP faction of Ajit Pawar also managed to get both its candidates, Shivajirao Garje (won with 24 votes) and Rajesh Vitekar (won with 23 votes).
On the other hand, Congress candidate Pradnya Satav got 25 votes, and Shiv Sena UBT candidate Milind Narvekar won with second preference votes, securing 22 votes. Jayant Patil, senior leader of the Peasants and Workers Party backed by Sharad Pawar, got only 12 votes.
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