Maharashtra Legislative Council polls: MVA wins 2 of 5 seats, beats BJP on Gadkari home turf Nagpur

Tambe, a former Congressman, had filed his nomination as an independent for which he was suspended from the party. After the victory, Tambe said he will announce his next political move soon.

MVA’s Dheeraj Lingade was leading in Amravati division graduates’ seat at the time of this report going to press.

The BJP-Shinde Sena government suffered losses, evidently for its stand against the implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS). Fadnavis, in the state Assembly, had said the government will never go back to the OPS. However, sensing the mood of graduate and teacher voters, both Shinde and Fadnavis later altered their stand, saying they were not negative about OPS. It, however, did not prove sufficient to score victories.

The BJP said it will introspect on the results while a jubilant Congress said the BJP must have realised the effects of trying to divide others’ houses and the fact that people of Maharashtra are against the government.

In Nagpur — the home district of BJP’s Union minister Nitin Gadkari, state party president Chadrashekhar Bawankule and Fadnavis — MVA-backed Vidarbha Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh candidate Sudhakar Adbale defeated BJP-backed sitting MLC Nago Ganar. Adbale won 16,700 votes while Ganar managed to get 8,211 votes.

Amravati division graduates’ constituency turned out to be the biggest upset among the five seats where Congress’ Lingade was leading.

NCP retained its lone Aurangabad division graduates’ constituency in a tough battle with party candidate Vikram Kale polling 20,195 votes.

The BJP managed to win a single seat of the Konkan division teachers’ constituency where its candidate Dyaneshwar Mhatre defeated sitting MLC Balaram Patil of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) by winning 20,648 votes and completing the required quota of 16,000 votes in the first round itself.