Mahayuti wins 2 of 5 Legislative Council seats, MVA 3; BJP loses Nagpur and Pune graduates' seats

Results for five seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council came as a major setback for the ruling Mahayuti. After counting that continued late into Wednesday night, the BJP, the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP won only two seats. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), led by the Congress and the Pawar faction, won three, recalling the Lok Sabha election results.

Congress leaders claimed that a graduates' seat signifies the participation of educated voters. According to them, a revolt by educated voters to free themselves from the BJP's web has begun from Maharashtra. The BJP contested two of the state's three graduates' seats and lost both, while the Ajit Pawar faction lost its only seat.

The Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency is counted among the most prestigious seats in Maharashtra. Congress's Abhijit Wanjari retained it. The seat was once held by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and the BJP kept winning it for about 52 years. In the last election Wanjari defeated the BJP's Sandip Joshi. This time he defeated BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale, raising the Congress flag in the city that houses the Sangh headquarters.

The final result for this seat had not been declared even after more than 48 hours. After the 35th elimination round, Kohale conceded defeat and congratulated Wanjari. Although the quota was not met, Wanjari will be declared the winner on Thursday on the basis of having the most votes.

The BJP's standing also took a heavy blow on the Pune Graduates' seat. Harshada Deshmukh, the MVA candidate, defeated the BJP's Smita Yogesh Jadhav. After Nagpur, Pune too had been emerging as an impregnable BJP stronghold, and the victory could upset the party's calculations ahead.

On the Amravati Teachers' seat in Vidarbha, sitting MLC Kiran Sarnaik of the Shinde camp won again. In the final count he got 16,663 votes. Congress's Aditi Pohare was second with 8,636 votes.

Since the announcement of the election, both the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi were beset by disputes over seat sharing. In some places rebels entered the fray against their own party's official candidates, and in others the norms of alliance were set aside and candidates were fielded against an ally's nominee.

On the Pune Graduates' seat, Sachin Sanap, backed by the Shinde Sena, contested against the BJP's Kaustubh Gavde. In Sambhajinagar, the Thackeray Sena's Dilip Ghuge stood against the NCP (SP)'s Pratap Singh Patil. On the Pune Graduates' seat, the NCP (SP)'s Harshada Deshmukh was challenged by the Thackeray Sena's Sunil Modi. On the Amravati Teachers' seat, the Shinde camp's Kiran Sarnaik and Shrikant Deshpande faced each other as independents. In Amravati, the sister of BJP MP Anil Bonde also rebelled against the party and contested.

The Congress's performance in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha election was more or less repeated in this Council election. Then, the Congress had won 4 of Vidarbha's 10 seats.

The NCP (Sunetra Pawar faction) was also hit hard by the results. After losing the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Pune seats, party working president Praful Patel said the Council election results were a warning bell for the party. He advised the party leadership to introspect. In the Marathwada Graduates' constituency, three-time MLC and party candidate Satish Chavan lost. Under Sunetra Pawar's leadership the NCP had contested only the Marathwada Graduates' seat out of the five. Reel star Raviraj Sable cut about 20,000 votes.

Calling the results a clear warning, Praful Patel wrote on the social networking site X that introspection was necessary to regain trust, set priorities and strengthen the organisation. He wrote that the leadership must immediately correct its priorities to strengthen the organisation.

It is being said that he was hinting at Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar. The BJP, which had not won a single seat in the last election, gained two seats this time. The Shinde Sena got one seat, while the NCP's Sunetra Pawar faction was left disappointed. In the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) suffered a crushing defeat.