Mahayuti Sweeps Maharashtra MLC Polls, Wins 16 of 17 Seats
Polling for 17 seats was held on June 18. However, six Mahayuti candidates had already been elected unopposed before voting, giving the alliance an early advantage
Mumbai: The ruling Mahayuti alliance registered a commanding victory in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, winning 16 of the 17 seats for which results were declared on Monday.
Polling for 17 seats was held on June 18. However, six Mahayuti candidates had already been elected unopposed before voting, giving the alliance an early advantage.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the biggest gainer, winning 11 seats, while Shiv Sena (Shinde) secured three seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) won two.
The only seat that did not go to an official Mahayuti candidate was Nashik, where Independent candidate and BJP rebel Gokul Gite defeated Shiv Sena nominee Narendra Darade. Gite's victory is being seen as a significant setback for the Shiv Sena in the constituency.
Among the candidates elected unopposed were Ravindra Phatak (Thane) and Dushyant Chaturvedi (Yavatmal) from Shiv Sena, Aniket Tatkare (Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg) and Vikram Kakade (Pune) from NCP, and Arun Lakhani (Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli) and Prajakt Tanpure (Ahilyanagar) from BJP.
The BJP's victorious candidates included Suhas Shirshat (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna), Avinash Brahmankar (Bhandara-Gondia), Dhairyashil Kadam (Sangli-Satara), Rajendra Raut (Solapur), Basavaraj Patil (Dharashiv-Latur-Beed), Rajiv Potdar (Nagpur), Nandkishor Mahajan (Jalgaon), Pravin Pote (Amravati) and Amar Rajurkar (Nanded).
Shiv Sena's Saiyed Khan won from the Parbhani-Hingoli constituency.
The results further strengthen Mahayuti's position in Maharashtra's local self-government institutions and are being viewed as a major political boost for the ruling alliance ahead of upcoming electoral battles in the state.
Reacting to the results, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve said, “We fought well. We are fighting to protect the Constitution.”
