The Shiv Sena and the BJP have won two seats each while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has bagged one seat in the five seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, th evoting for which was held on May 21.
Shiv Sena has won from Parbhani-Hingoli Legislative Constituency. Shiv Sena's Viplav Bajoriya defeated Congress candidate Suresh Deshmukh by a margin of 256 votes. The party also has also won
in Nashik. Shiv Sena's Narendra Darade defeated NCP's Shivaji Sahane by over 190 votes.
BJP's Pravin Pote bagged the Amravati seat defeating Congress leader Anil Madhopadiya. Of the total polling in Amaravati, 488 were deemed valid. Anil Madhopadiya of Congress only got 17 votes while the BJP candidate bagged 458 votes. BJP also won the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli Legislative Council seat where party candidate Ramdas Amatkar defeated Congress's IK Kumar Saraf by over 80 votes.
NCP candidate Aniket Tatkare won Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Legislative Council seat, defeating Shiv Sena's Rajiv Sahele.
Counting was held on Thursday for the five seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council - Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Nashik, Parbhani-Hingoli, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli and Amaravati. Voting also took place for the Osmanabad-Beed-Latur seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on May 21 but counting for the seat has been deferred.
All the major political parties of Maharashtra - Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party - contested the elections. The ruling BJP and Shiv Sena contested three seats each. While the BJP put up candidates in Osmanabad-Beed-Latur, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli and Amaravati; the Shiv Sena contested Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Nashik and Parbhani-Hingoli seats.
Out of the six seats, three were with the NCP, two BJP and one had a Congress representative. All the six members are retiring on June 21 from the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
BJP's Rajya Sabha member and former chief minister Narayan Rane declared his support to NCP candidate Aniket Tatkare in the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg local authorities constituency, against Sena's Rajeev Sabale.
Pravin Pote, Minister of State for Industries, contested from Amaravati constituency against Anil Madhogaria of the Congress.
Osmanabad-Beed-Latur seat saw a prestige between Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde (BJP) and her cousin Dhananjay Munde (NCP), Leader of Opposition in the Council. The battle became interesting after Ramesh Karad of NCP pulled out of the poll arena at the last minute.
Karad, a staunch supporter of Pankaja Munde, had joined the NCP just ahead of the polls and was immediately declared the party candidate.
After Karad's withdrawal, the NCP extended its support to independent candidate Ashok Jagdale.
BJP fielded former NCP minister Suresh Dhas for this bypoll.
