assembly-elections

Updated: Oct 24, 2019 17:31 IST

Final trends indicate the ruling BJP-Sena alliance is all set to cross the majority mark of 145 in the 289-member Maharashtra assembly comfortably. Shiv Sena and the BJP are contesting as allies after going solo in 2014 assembly polls when the BJP had won almost double the number of seats than Sena. According to trends, Congress-NCP alliance is on course to better its 2014 tally. Within the larger ‘war’ for political power in Maharashtra, several smaller personal battles are being fought by political bigwigs. Here’s the status of the VIP candidates in Maharashtra at 5 pm.

1. Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis – Current Maharashtra chief minister leading from the Nagpur South West seat against Ashish Deshmukh by a margin of over 30,000 votes. Deshmukh is the son of the former state Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh and he had recently quit the BJP to join the Congress. Fadnavis had won this seat in 2014 by 48,000 votes against Prafulla Gudadhe Patil of the Congress.

2. Aditya Thackeray – has won against his chief rival Suresh Mane of the NCP by over 60 thousand votes in Worli. Aditya is the first Thackeray to contest polls and is seen as a contender for the top two positions in the government if the BJP-Shiv Sena combine returns to power. Sunil Shinde of the Shiv Sena had won this seat by over 23,000 votes against NCP’s Sachin Ahir of NCP in 2014.

3. Pankaja Munde- Daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, Pankaja has lost to cousin Dhananjay Panditrao Munde of the NCP in Parli constituency by over 30 thousand votes. Dhananjay, Leader of Opposition in the legislative council joined NCP in 2013 after a falling out with his uncle, Gopinath Munde, since he chose Pankaja as his political heir. Pankaja was the Rural Development minister in the previous government and is BJP’s OBC face. She has twice won from Parli, a constituency that was once represented by her father.

4. Chandrakant Patil– BJP’s Maharashtra chief Chandrakant Patil is leading Kishor Shinde of the MNS by close to 25 thousand votes from the Kothrud assembly seat in Pune. Shinde was being backed by the Congress-NCP alliance. Patil is BJP’s number two in Maharashtra and this is his first electoral contest for which party’s sitting MLA Medha Kulkarni had to make way. Medha Kulkarni of the BJP had won the seat by 45,000 votes against Chandrakant Mokate of the Shiv Sena in 2014.

5. Ajit Pawar has defeated Gopichand Padalkar of the BJP by over a 1.6 lakh votes in Baramati seat of Pune district. Baramati is a known Pawar family stronghold. Ajit is Sharad Pawar’s nephew and number two in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Ajit has won six assembly elections from Baramati, he won by close to 90,000 votes against Prabhakar Gawade of the BJP in 2014.

6. Ashok Chavan won by over 97 thousand votes from the Bhokar constituency in the Nanded district against BJP’s BD Gorthekar. Chavan is former Maharashtra chief minister and was the state unit chief of the Congress until May, he quit after losing to the BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. Chavan is a three-term MLA from Bhokar. Chavan’s wife Ameeta had won by over 47,000 votes against Madhavrao Kinhalkar of the BJP in 2014 polls here.

7- Nitesh Rane of the BJP has won by over 28 thousand votes against Satish Sawant of the Shiv Sena on Kankavli assembly seat, which is witnessing a rare contest of the saffron allies. Nitesh is son of the former chief minister and Congress leader Narayan Rane who quit the party earlier this month. The enmity between Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Narayan Rane-- a former Sena man — has led to this unique face off.

8. Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP is seeking a fourth consecutive term from Yeola and is leading against Sambhaji Pawar of the Shiv Sena by over 45 thousand votes. Bhujbal was jailed for more than two years in cases related to money laundering. Bhujbal had quit the Shiv Sena in 1991 following differences with late Bal Thackeray. The Shiv Sena, which has a strong presence in the district has been unable to breach Bhujbal’s bastion since 2004. Bhujbal had defeated Sambhaji Pawar by 46,442 votes in 2014.

9. Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh, son for former senior Congress leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is leading from the Latur City seat against Shailesh Lahoti of the BJP by close to 30 thousand votes. Amit has won this seat twice before in 2009 and 2014. In the last assembly election, the Congress leader had defeated Lahoti by over 49,000 votes. Latur City seat is considered to be family stronghold of the Deshmukhs, Vilasrao had won from this constituency five times, in 1980, 1985, 1991, 1999 and 2004.

10. Prithviraj Chavan, senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister is currently leading against the BJP’s Atul Bhosale in Karad South assembly seat by close to 15 thousand votes. Chavan made his entry into Maharashtra Assembly by winning this seat for the first time in 2014.

(The data is subject to change as final rounds of counting are completed)