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Victory for NCP, setback for Sena in Maharashtra by-elections

The Shiv Sena suffered a setback as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) managed a grand victory in the state legislature council by-elections to get its candidate Kiran Pawaskar elected against Rahul Narvekar of Sena.

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The Shiv Sena suffered a setback as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) managed a grand victory in the state legislature council by-elections to get its candidate Kiran Pawaskar elected against Rahul Narvekar of Sena.

The Congress and NCP, along with allies, polled a total of 182 votes, whereas Sena and BJP managed to retain its tally of 90 votes. The MNS, which has 13 votes, abstained from exercising its franchise. BJP (MLC) Shivajirao Kardile could not cast his vote due to demise of a relative. CPM (MLC) Rajaram Onzre boycotted the polls. Two votes exercised were declared invalid.

The election was necessitated as Pawaskar quit Shiv Sena last month to join NCP. Pawaskar, who has a stronghold in the various unions including Air India, resigned from Sena and relinquished his council seat as he felt sidelined in the organisation headed by Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

The NCP, which has decided to take its battle against the Sena to consolidate its vote bank across state, made headway by embracing Pawaskar. The state NCP took the challenge to get Pawaskar elected in the state legislature council to prove its might over Sena.

The NCP also got unconditional support from the Congress. Sena (45) and BJP (46) together reckoned it was a lost battle as total strength of Congress (82) and NCP (63), along with allies, indicated it was a one-sided election.

State NCP president Madhukar Pichhad said, “We have pulled a grand victory for Pawaskar.” The NCP is happy as it polled almost nine votes more at 182 than its expected tally of 173 votes.

The elections have proved again that Sena and BJP had taken the defeat for granted and failed to swing some allies to its side.
BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said, “We have kept our votes intact — the BJP (45) and Sena (45) taking the total to 90 votes. One BJP MLC was absent.” Political managers indicated that Sena had decided to field Rahul Narvekar against Pawaskar as it did not want the council polls to go uncontested.

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