BJP emerges largest party with 9 of 21 seats in Satara district bank polls; NCP wins 8

The result of the Satara District Central Cooperative Bank election is now clear. Of the 21 seats, the BJP won 9 and became the largest party. The NCP got 8 and the Shiv Sena 4. The BJP and the Shiv Sena are constituents of the Mahayuti, and together they have 13 directors on the bank board. The NCP had to settle for 8 seats.

Votes were counted under heavy police security at the Nagari Sahakari Bank Association counting centre at Jarandeshwar Naka in Satara city. As the results came in, supporters of the winning candidates threw gulal, burst firecrackers and raised slogans. In several places the results went against expectations, and political circles were abuzz.

The Patan taluka contest drew the most attention. Guardian Minister Shambhuraj Desai defeated the BJP's Satyajitsinh Patankar by 12 votes. Desai got 58 votes and Patankar 46. Desai had lost by 14 votes in the previous election, and this time he settled that score. The Desai camp has won this Patan constituency after 42 years.

In Man taluka, Rural Development Minister Jaykumar Gore won by a big margin with 53 votes. The NCP's Manoj Pol got 14 and the Shiv Sena's Shekhar Gore 7. In Phaltan, Sanjivraje Naik Nimbalkar won the society constituency. He defeated ShamsherSinh Naik Nimbalkar, brother of former MP Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar. The contest has brought the political rivalry within the Naik Nimbalkar family back into discussion in Phaltan.

In Koregaon, the NCP's Sunil Mane and the BJP's Sunil Khatri fought a close contest. An objection was raised to one ballot paper and it was rejected, leaving both candidates with 44 votes each. The matter was then decided by drawing lots, which went in Mane's favour, and he was declared the winner. Workers of both camps objected, and there was tension for a while.

In Karad, Udaysinh Patil-Undalkar, son of the late former minister Vilaskaka Undalkar, defeated Dhanaji Patil by a wide margin with 100 votes. In Savali, the BJP's Dnyandev Ranjane got 38 votes and defeated the NCP's Vitthal Gole, who got 8. In Khandala, the NCP's Ajay Bhosale won with 28 votes, beating the BJP's Sanjeev Gadhave by 7 votes.

In Mahabaleshwar, the NCP's Rupali Rajpure got 8 votes and defeated the Shiv Sena's Sanjay More by 4 votes. From the industrial weavers constituency, the BJP's Chandrakant Jadhav won with 19 votes. In the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constituency, the Shiv Sena's Deepak Pralhad Chavan got 618 votes. In the nomadic and denotified tribes constituency, the BJP's Arjun Kale won with 349 votes, defeating independent Sunil Wagh, who got 284.

By party, 5 BJP, 3 NCP and 1 Shiv Sena candidates had been elected unopposed before the election. In the remaining contests, the BJP won 4 seats, the NCP 5 and the Shiv Sena 3. Although the BJP is the largest party with 9 seats, power in the bank will now depend on the unity of the Mahayuti. The Mahayuti has a strength of 13, but internal political equations among its leaders will decide who gets the posts of chairman and vice-chairman and the key committees.

Jaykumar Gore, Shambhuraj Desai, Udaysinh Undalkar and Sanjivraje Naik Nimbalkar showed their strength in their respective areas. The NCP kept its presence by winning 8 seats. What remains to be seen is how much support the Shiv Sena gives the BJP in its role as the largest party, and how much influence the NCP has from the opposition benches. The bank's politics from here will depend on these factors.