MVA wins 3 of 5 Legislative Council seats, Mahayuti 2; BJP's Upadhye asks if alliance will introspect

Results of the Legislative Council graduates' and teachers' constituency elections were declared yesterday. Of the five seats, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three and the ruling Mahayuti two. The MVA won all three graduates' seats, including a Marathwada seat that had been with the Mahayuti. The Mahayuti took both teachers' seats. The BJP won the Pune seat, long considered a traditional Congress seat, after 18 years.

Some leaders have expressed displeasure at the Mahayuti winning only two seats and said introspection is needed. BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye posted on social media after the results, asking the Mahayuti whether it would now introspect after the outcome on the five seats. He said that had the allies fought together, there was an easy chance of winning all five, and asked whether they would think about why they stopped at two.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president and MP Praful Patel also held up a mirror to his own party. Writing on social media about the fewer seats won in the graduates' and teachers' elections and the seats left to others within the Mahayuti, he said that today's Legislative Council results were a clear and important warning. According to him, winning back people's trust, resetting the party's priorities and reforming the organisation require immediate and serious introspection.

By party, the BJP contested three seats and won one. The Shinde faction contested two and won one. The Congress contested two and won one. The NCP (Sharad Pawar) contested two and won both. Of the state's five seats, the Mahayuti won two and the opposition three.

In the Pune graduates' constituency, Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) defeated BJP candidate Smita Jadhav by 9,928 votes. After a long count, she reached the quota needed to win in the 44th elimination round. Deshmukh-Jadhav received 1,13,840 votes and Smita Jadhav 1,03,912. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had campaigned vigorously for the BJP candidate, yet the seat was lost.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP's Kaustubh Gawande won. He defeated Sachin Sanap, an independent backed by the Shinde Sena, by 6,770 votes. The quota for victory was set at 25,756 votes. After 27 elimination rounds, Gawande had 23,177 votes and Sanap 16,347. Gawande is the youngest candidate elected from the constituency so far. Congress sitting MLA Jayant Asgaonkar finished fourth.

In the Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) graduates' constituency, Dr Pratapsingh Patil of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) won. Sitting MLA Satish Chavan of the Ajit Pawar faction had held sway in the region for 18 years. After second-preference votes were counted, Chavan had 60,935 votes and Patil 74,142, a lead of 13,207 for Patil.

In the Amravati teachers' constituency, Kiran Sarnaik of the Shinde Sena, part of the Mahayuti, won. He defeated the MVA's Prof Aditi Pohare and retained his seat. Sarnaik led from the first preference but had to struggle until the 24th round to win. In a count that lasted about 32 hours, he polled 16,663 votes to cross the quota of 16,134.

In the Nagpur graduates' constituency, the count indicated that Congress sitting MLA Abhijit Wanjari was headed towards defeating former BJP MLA Sudhakar Kohale. The BJP had staked its prestige on winning back its Nagpur stronghold. However, shifting vote arithmetic, resentment within the party and the support to Wanjari of second-preference votes from independent Nitesh Karale Guruji made the BJP's strategy appear to fail.