MLC poll results: BJP- 2, Congress- 1

The Shiv Sena managed to wrest two legislative council seats from the Opposition Congress and NCP with its nominees winning the elections to the upper house from the Nashik and Parbhani-Hingoli local body constituencies.

However, former NCP state president Sunil Tatkare's son, Aniket, managed to trump the Sena's Rajiv Sable in the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat, albeit with some help from the Shiv Sena's estranged ally, the BJP, and Narayan Rane's Swabhimaan.

The polling to six legislative council seats, namely Nashik, Latur-Beed-Osmanabad, Amravati, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg and Parbhani-Hingoli, was held on May 21. In the results declared on Thursday, the Shiv Sena and BJP won two seats each, followed by one for the NCP. Three of these seats were held by the NCP, followed by the BJP (2) and Congress (1).

The counting in the Latur-Beed- Osmanabad constituency, where former minister Suresh Dhas and NCP-backed independent Ashok Jagdale are facing off, has been deferred.

In Nashik, Shiv Sena's Narendra Darade trounced Shivaji Sahane (NCP), who was said to be tacitly supported by the BJP. The Shiv Sena, which has announced it will not ally with the BJP, had fielded three candidates.

After the results, Darade, who got 412 votes against 219 for Sahane, set the cat among the pigeons by indicating that it was the support of the senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal that saw him through. Bhujbal, a MLA from Yeola in Nashik, was released on bail in a money laundering case.

In Parbhani-Hingoli, which was held by the NCP's Babajani Durrani, but was left for the Congress' Suresh Deshmukh, Shiv Sena fielded Viplav Bajoria, son of three-term Shiv Sena MLC from the Akola-Washim-Buldhana constituency, Gopikisan Bajoria. Viplav made the cut with 256 votes against Deshmukh's 221 due to resentment within the NCP's ranks.

However, the Sena was humbled in the Konkan where the NCP retained its seat with 620 votes defeating Sabale (306 votes).

In Amravati, the BJP's minister of state, Pravin Pote Patil, comfortably won by getting 458 votes against 17 for Anil Madhogadiya (Congress). In neighboring Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Ramdas Ambatkar (BJP) secured 550 votes and defeated Indrakumar Saraf of Congress by 462 votes.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Raosaheb Danve Patil denied they supported the NCP in Nashik to settle scores with the Shiv Sena, which is fighting against it in the Palghar Lok Sabha by-polls. He stressed they had asked their elected representatives to vote based on their conscience.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray taunted the BJP and said their bonhomie with Tatkare would surely lead to the allegations against him about irregularities in irrigation projects being investigated.

At present, the NCP holds 23 seats in the 78 member legislative council, followed by the Congress (19), BJP (18), Shiv Sena (9), Janata Dal United, Peasants and Workers Party, Peoples Republican Party (one each) and independents (six).

STRENGTH IN NO.

• At present, the NCP holds 23 seats in the legislative council, followed by the Congress (19), BJP (18), Shiv Sena (9), JDU (1) and independents (6)
   
• Counting in the Latur-Beed-Osmanabad constituency, where former minister Suresh Dhas and independent Ashok Jagdale are facing off, has been deferred