Counting of votes for the high-stakes Biennial election to 11 council seats in Maharashtra has ended with the ruling Mahayuti — comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) — bagging all the 9 seats it contested. From the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, Milind Narvekar, close aide of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Congress candidate Pradnya Satav won the biennial elections. While BJP won five seats, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party bagged two each. Voting for the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) election took place at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai between 9 am and 4 pm today, with opposition parties seeking extension of polling hours due to heavy rains in the financial capital. A total of 12 candidates were in the fray for the 11 seats in the Upper House of the state legislature where the 274 current members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college. BJP’s Pankaja Munde, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe, Yogesh Tilekar and Sadabhav Khot are among ten candidates who have won the Maharashtra MLC elections as counting for the remaining one seat is underway. Munde, Phuke and Tilekar claimed victory after securing 26 votes each. The winning margin in council elections is 23. Two MLCs from Ajit Pawar’s party – Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje – also won the elections, while Shinde Sena leader Bhavana Gawli of the also secured an easy win. Peasants and Workers’ Party candidate Jayant Patil, who was supported by Sharad Pawar-led NCP, lost the polls. The election was necessitated as 11 members of the legislative council (MLCs) are completing their six-year term on July 27.
