BJP, Shiv Sena bag two seats each in Maharashtra LC polls

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Ruling allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have bagged two seats each in the biennial elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the Local Authority category, an official said on Thursday.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured a Vidhan Parishad seat whereas the Congress lost both seats it contested. 

The results of the elections for the Osmanabad-Beed-Latur seat has been deferred by the Election Commission.

The polling for the six seats was held on Monday as incumbents -- three from the NCP, two from the BJP and one from the Congress -- are due to retire from the Upper House of the state legislature at the end of their tersm on June 21.

The seats for which elections were held are Osmanabad-Beed-Latur (result deferred), Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Nashik, Parbhani-Hingoli, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli and Amravati.

The Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seats was won by NCP candidate Aniket Tatkare, son of former Minister and state party chief Sunil Tatkare, by defeating Sena's Rajiv Sable. Aniket secured 620 votes against Sable's 306.

The Nashik seat was bagged by Sena's Narendra Darade (399 votes) against his nearest NCP rival Shivaji Sahane (232).

The Amravati seat was won by BJP's Pravin Pote-Patil (448 votes) against Congress opponent Anil Madhogarhia (17 votes).

The Parbhani-Hingoli seat was bagged Shiv Sena's Viplava Bajoria by bagging 256 votes compared with Congress rival Suresh Deshmukh's 221 votes.

In the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli seat, BJP nominee Ramdas Ambatkar secured 528 votes to trounce nearest Congress rival Indra Kumar Saraf, who got 491 votes.

The Osmanabad-Beed-Latur seat was considered a prestige battle between Munde cousins -- Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde (BJP) and NCP's Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde.

Accordingly, it witnessed a no-holds-barred contest between BJP's Suresh Dhas and independent candidate Ashok Jagdale, who was supported by both the Congress and the NCP.

The NCP had originally nominated Ramesh Karad, but he withdrew from the fray at the last minute. In a face-saving compromise formula, the NCP was compelled to support an independent in the elections.