After LS setback, Mahayuti shines in Maharashtra council polls

Mumbai: In a morale-boosting victory for ‘Mahayuti’ in Maharashtra ahead of assembly polls, the ruling alliance on Friday won all the nine seats it contested in the biennial elections to 11 Legislative Council seats, but the opposition MVA faced a setback as a candidate backed by Sharad Pawar’s party lost.

In the results announced in the evening for the high-stakes polls held earlier in the day, where 12 candidates were in the fray for 11 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five seats, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged two each.

All three parties are constituents of the ruling Mahayuti (grand alliance) which performed poorly in the recent Lok Sabha polls, winning just 17 seats out of the total 48 in Maharashtra.

From the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Milind Narvekar, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Congress candidate Pradnya Satav won the elections.

However, Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, who was supported by Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP), lost the polls, dealing a blow to the MVA.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, the NCP (SP) and some smaller parties are members of the MVA, which had put up an impressive show in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 30 seats.

However, Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, who was supported by Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP), lost the polls, dealing a blow to the MVA which had put up an impressive show in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 30 seats.