Congress and Nationalist Congress Party alliance in Maharashtra appeared set to retain power with its candidates leading in 136 of the 288 assembly constituencies in the state.
Latest updates from voting result:
Cong + NCP = 132
BJP + Shiv Sena = 103
MNS = 13
Others = 12
Total = 260
Trends available from 267 constituencies showed that Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine is leading in 92 seats. Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is leading in 14 seats, the Third Front in 10 seats and others comprising mostly Congress-NCP rebels are leading in 31 seats.
In the prestigious Amravati seat, Congress nominee and President Pratibha Patil's son Raosaheb Shekhawat was trailing behind party rebel Sunil Deshmukh by 2,532 votes at the end of the first round of counting.
"This victory is the victory of the Congress-NCP team," said Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who is leading from Bhokar in Nanded district.
However, some of Chavan's cabinet colleagues including Babanrao Pachpute (Shrigonda), Vijaysinh Mohite Patil (Pandharpur), Shobha Bachhav (Nashik) and Satish Chaturvedi (Nagpur East) were trailing, at the end of the first round.
Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Finance Minister Dilip Walse Patil and NCP rebel Vilas Lande are leading in their respective constituencies. Chavan polled 20,631 votes at the end of the third round of counting. Bhujbal is leading with 5,109 votes in Yevla constituency after the first round.
Walse-Patil is leading from Ambegaon with 3,228 votes and Lande is ahead in Bhosari in Pune district. Pradeep Jaiswal, Shiv Sena rebel from Aurangabad, is leading with 3,212 votes. Jaiswal is former Sena Member of Parliament and the ex-mayor of Aurangabad.
Amit, son of Union minister and Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, Pankaja, daughter of BJP General Secretary Gopinath Munde and Praniti, daughter of Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde, are leading from Latur, Parli and Solapur seats respectively. MNS candidate Bala Nandgaonkar was leading by over 1000 votes in Shivadi constituency in Mumbai.
After four rounds of counting in Alibaug, Meenakshi Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party was leading by 4,501 votes, over Congress candidate Madhu Thakur.
As initial trends showed that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine is surging ahead in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena-BJP combine has conceded defeat in the assembly elections.
"If it is a defeat, it has to be accepted by everybody," Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshiv said when asked if the party conceded defeat in the elections.
"We are thinking as to how these results have come. We never expected these results," he added.
Asked about the reasons behind the performance of the combine in the state, BJP state president Nitin Gadkari said, "If there is a defeat, it is a defeat of everybody. If it is a victory, it is everybody's victory. I don't want to blame anybody for the defeat."
Posted by Mohan Sehgal | Views 279 | Share Blog
