Maha MLC polls: MVA wins 3 Graduate seats; Mahayuti gets two Teacher constituencies
Mumbai, Oct 29 (IANS) The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the ruling Mahayuti coalition have shared a mixed verdict in the high-stakes Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections. While the MVA established absolute dominance by winning all three Graduate constituencies, the ruling Mahayuti alliance struck back by securing both Teacher constituencies. The final poll results were declared early Thursday morning after 45 hours of counting.
The opposition alliance delivered a significant blow to the ruling coalition by sweeping the Graduate constituencies in Nagpur, Pune, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad).
In a closely watched contest, Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari successfully defended the Nagpur Graduate seat, defeating BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale following a decisive shift during the second-preference vote counting.
In the Pune Graduate seat, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav triumphed over the BJP’s Smita Jadhav by a margin of 9,928 votes after a gruelling 44-round elimination process.
In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduate seat, NCP(SP) candidate Dr Pratapsinh Patil wrested the Aurangabad division Graduate seat, breaking an 18-year dominance held by sitting MLA Satish Chavan (Ajit Pawar-led NCP camp) with a comfortable margin of over 13,000 votes.
Despite setbacks in the Graduate segments, the ruling Mahayuti asserted its strength by holding and capturing the Teacher constituencies. In Pune Teacher seat, BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade (30) emerged victorious, reclaiming the seat for the party after an 18-year gap by defeating Shinde-Sena-backed Independent candidate Sachin Sane, thereby establishing himself as one of the youngest victors in the polls.
In the Amravati Teacher seat, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) candidate Kiran Sarnaik emerged victorious after a gruelling 32-hour vote-counting marathon, overcoming MVA-backed Professor Aditi Pohare in the final elimination rounds to retain the seat for the alliance.
The results reflect a divided mandate across professional voter bases in the state. Political analysts note that while graduate voters leaned toward the opposition — citing sentiments around employment, higher education, and economic issues — teachers and localised educational frameworks favoured the stability and representation offered by the ruling Mahayuti coalition.
As far as the Nagpur Graduate seat is concerned, the BJP received a major setback as Congress has retained it after a fierce battle. After an intense 45-hour counting marathon filled with dramatic twists and turns, the final results for the Nagpur Graduate Constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) were declared.
In a major political upset, Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari emerged victorious over his chief rival, Sudhakar Kohale of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Incidentally, this is the BJP’s successive defeat after the 2020 state council polls. Following the tally of first and second-preference votes, Abhijeet Wanjari secured a total of 67,231 votes, defeating Sudhakar Kohale, who polled 63,960 votes. Wanjari won by a margin of 3,271 votes. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale polled a notable 25,909 votes, proving to be a key factor in the elimination and second-preference transfer stages.
A bizarre anomaly during the counting process proved fatal to the BJP’s prospects. Around 9,000 votes cast by graduate voters were declared invalid because voters marked the numeral “2” instead of “1” next to Sudhakar Kohale’s name. Had these votes contained the primary preference “1”, Kohale would have comfortably surpassed the victory margin.
Political observers and party leaders are questioning whether this high volume of invalid preference marking was an intentional campaign tactic by specific voter groups or widespread voter confusion.
Sudhakar Kohale, after defeat, in his reaction said, “Our senior leadership will analyse this result in detail. Around 9,000 votes meant for the BJP were rendered invalid, which pushed us back and ultimately caused our defeat. To those BJP voters who wrote ‘2’ instead of ‘1’ against my preference column, I request that casting votes in this manner is not healthy for democracy.”
The defeat in Nagpur comes as a significant blow to the ruling party, given that the region is considered a BJP stronghold. High-profile leaders, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and BJP State President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, aggressively campaigned in the final stretch. Despite putting their full organisational power behind the race, the party failed to win.
–IANS
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