It was the NCP-Congress, that threw a complete surprise in the elections. Both the parties almost doubled the number of seats they won in 2014 assembly elections.
Mumbai| The 2019 Maharashtra assembly election has seen surprising numbers, contrary to what the Exit Polls predicted. Many thought the BJP-Sena alliance will win a maximum number of seats but it swung like never before. With the hope of 200 seats, BJP and ShivSena alliance was set to beat NCP-INC. The result did show victory for BJP-Sena but the alliance was unable to reach their target. BJP with 104 and Shivsena with 56 seats together won 160 seats.
However, it was the NCP-Congress, that threw a complete surprise in the elections. Both the parties almost doubled the number of seats they won in 2014 assembly elections. Most of the seats both the parties gained were the seats where BJP had emerged victorious in 2014. The region in which the BJP-Sena alliance faced a drubbing is Vidarbha and Western Maharashtra.
Western Maharashtra
Western Maharashtra is where the hold of NCP-Congress is strong form decades. However, at the peak of the Modi wave and due to Anti-incumbency, BJP-Sena gained in the region in 2014. This time around, BJP was sure of winning with high numbers but was defeated badly.
The disappointment came Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji and two-time NCP MP from Satara lost by-election from the constituency. He had resigned from NCP and joined BJP three months before the Maharashtra Assembly polls. However, lost to the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil by 87,717 votes in the bypolls.
9 State Ministers lost
A total of nine prominent Maharashtra ministers lost after the Election Results were revealed. Two cabinet ministers and seven ministers of state failed to win in the assembly elections.
Pankaja Munde, who is the Minister for Rural Development and Women and Child Welfare, lost to her estranged cousin Dhananjay Munde by a margin of almost 30,000 votes. It was a shocker for late BJP leader Gopinath Munde’s daughter.
In Karjat-Jamkhed, when Ram Shinde, Guardian Minister of Ahmednagar and Water Conservation Minister, lost to NCP’s Rohit Pawar by a margin of over 40,000 votes.
In Maval constituency, Sanjay Bhegade, Minister of State for Labour, Environment, Relief, and Rehabilitation lost to NCP’s Sunil Shelke by a margin of 95,000 votes.
Shiv Sena’s Vijay Shivtare, the Minister of State for Water Resources, lost to Congress’s Sanjay Jagtap in Purandar constituency in Pune district.
In Jalna, Shiv Sena’s Arjun Khotkar, the Minister of State for Textile, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, and Fisheries, suffered a crushing defeat against Congress candidate Kailas Gorantyal.
Cabinet minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar, fighting on Shivsena ticket from Beed, was defeated by his nephew and NCP candidate Sandeep Kshirsagar.
Vaibhav Pichad, who moved over from NCP to Shiv Sena before the elections, lost to NCP’s Kiran Lahamate.
The most shocking win was of Ajit Pawar who defeated the BJP’s Gopichand Padalkar by a margin of 1,65,265 votes in Pune. This was noted as the highest margin of Pawar like never seen before. However, he was confident of this margin he expressed confidence in his speech for election.
Also Read: Have already said I’ll return for second-term: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis
Pandurang Barora and Nirmala Gavit, who joined Shiv Sena before the polls after defecting from NCP and Congress respectively, lost elections from Shahpur and Igatpuri.
Former minister Harshvardhan Patil who crossed over to BJP from Congress also lost to NCP’s Duttatray Bharane.
In Morshi assembly seat in Amravati, BJP’s Anil Bonde, the Agriculture Minister, lost to Swabhimani Paksha’s Devendra Bhuyar.
In Aheri assembly seat in Gadchiroli district, BJP’s Ambrish Atram, the Minister of State for Tribal Development, lost to NCP’s Bhagwantrao Aatram by a margin of almost 15,000 votes. In Latur (rural), Congress candidate Dhiraj Vilasrao Deshmukh emerged victorious.
The NCP’s dominance is one of the reasons why the BJP-Sena alliance failed to secure a landslide victory in the state. Sharad Pawar’s party fought valiantly and secured 54 seats in the state. It is worth noting that NCP has maintained its stronghold in Western Maharashtra, where it won 28 seats.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
