MUMBAI, MARCH 11: A cursory glance at the Assembly segment-wise performance of political parties in the mid-term polls has revealed that out of the 288 Assembly segments, Congress-Republican Party of India-Samajwadi Party combine was ahead in 209 segments, while the ruling Sena-BJP alliance was able to lead in less than 79 segments.The performance of Sena-BJP nominees in the Assembly segments of 25 senior cabinet members was dismal compared to their Cong-RPI-SP rivals. Even in Kherwadi (Assembly segment of North-West parliamentary constituency), from where Sena supremo Bal Thackeray is a voter, the Sena-BJP nominee Madhukar Sarpotdar was much behind the SP candidate Tushar Gandhi.Barring Mumbai and Konkan belt, the performance of the Sena-BJP alliance in Vidarbha, Marathwada, North and Western Maharashtra was poor compared to the last elections. After the 1995 assembly elections, when the Sena-BJP alliance had secured 139 seats, the performance of the alliance was outstanding in the subsequentparliamentary, civic and zilla parishad elections.Out of the 66 assembly segments in Mumbai and Konkan region, from where it secured just four seats, Shiv Sena was ahead in 23 assembly segments, BJP in 11, Congress in 17, RPI in five, SP in six and CPM in one. At the moment, out of the 51 legislators from the region, 34 belong to the Sena-BJP alliance. In the keenly contested North East constituency, BJP nominee Pramod Mahajan was ahead of his rival Gurudas Kamat in Mulund and Ghatkopar, while in the remaining four segments, he was much behind the Congress nominee. Even in North Central constituency, from where RPI nominee wrested the seat from Sena nominee Narayan Athavale, only in Dadar segment represented by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, the Sena nominee was ahead, while in the remaining segments, Ramdas was leading by a comfortable margin.In North Maharashtra, while the Congress was ahead in 36 segments, the Shiv Sena was ahead in just 11 segments and BJP was leading in the remaining segments. Inthe backward Marathwada region, out of 48 assembly segments, Congress wad ahead in 30, BJP in 11 and Shiv Sena in three, while in the Vidarbha region with a total of 66 segments, Congress was ahead in 45, RPI in 11 and Sena-BJP alliance in 10. In the sugar-rich Western Maharashtra, out of 60 assembly segments, Congress was leading in 55, Shiv Sena in two and BJP in one.So far as the performance of Sena-BJP nominees in the segments of the cabinet members is concerned, Congress nominee Ashok Patil was ahead of BJP nominee Jaisingh Gaikwad in Beed, home town of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde by 8,500 votes, while Praful Patel (Cong) was ahead of BJP nominee Narayan Saraf in Amgaon (home town of Finance Minister Mahadev Shivankar) by 13,845 votes.In Sewree and Bhandup represented by Higher Education Minister Datta Rane and Industries Minister Leeladhar Dake, the Sena-BJP nominees Mohan Rawale and Pramod Mahajan were trailing by 4,000 and 2,000 votes respectively. Ram Pandagale, who lost to BJP's RamNaik, secured a lead of 19,524 vote in Malad, the constituency of Minister of State for Home Gajanan Kirtikar.In Nashik, Deolali and Sinnar represented by Health Minister Daulatrao Aher, Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap and Minister of State for Health Tukaram Dighole, the nominees of the Sena-BJP were behind their Congress nominees by 24,335, 14,276 and 7,671 votes respectively. In Jalgaon and Edalabad assembly segments held by Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain and Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse, the Congress nominees were ahead of their Sena-BJP rivals by 390 and 13,335 votes respectively.In Katol segment of the Ramtek constituency, represented by Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh, Congress nominee Chitralekha Bhosale was ahead of Sena-BJP candidate Ashok Gujar by 5,700 votes, while in Nagpur West Congress nominee Vilas Muttemwar was ahead of BJP nominee Ramesh Mantri by over 32,587 votes.The nominees of the Sena alliance in the segments represented by Transport MinisterChandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad W), Cooperation Minister Jaiprakash Mundhada (Wasmat), Agriculture Minister Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil (Shirdi) and Minister of State for Social Welfare Dilip Kamble (Paravti in Pune) were mauled by the rival Congress candidates.
