Ruling MVA's Shiv Sena and Congress see vote erosion in MLC polls: BJP

After giving second jolt to ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra this month, the BJP said that except NCP, both Shiv Sena (SS) and Congress saw vote erosion in the state LC elections.

After giving second jolt to ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra this month, the BJP said that except NCP, both Shiv Sena (SS) and Congress saw vote erosion in the state Legislative Council elections.

The opposition BJP in Maharashtra managed to get its "extra" candidate elected as MLC, trouncing the Congress' first preference candidate Chandrakant Handore on Monday.

Calling it a splendid victory, BJP Maharashtra in-charge and party national secretary, C.T Ravi tweeted: "Oh what a splendid victory for BJP ! Heartiest Congratulations to Team @BJP4Maharashtra for winning 5 seats in the Council Elections today. Kudos to President Shri @ChDadaPatil & LoP Shri @Dev_Fadnavis duo for upsetting the Corrupt MVA gameplan for the second time in a row."

In-charge of BJP's National Information and Technology Department Amit Malviya tweeted: "After RS poll, BJP trumps MVA again. All it's five candidates won the MLC contest as opposed to 2 each of SS and NCP. INC's Bhai Jagtap defeated Chandrakant Handore, party's Dalit face. BJP got 133 votes against its strength of 106 MLAs! Except NCP, both SS and INC saw vote erosion."

The prime contest for the tenth seat -- between Congress' Bhai Jagtap and BJP's Prasad Lad -- came as a shocker as both won, while Congress' first choice Handore was trounced in an unexpected upset, from the total 11 candidates vying for 10 seats.

The MVA's nominees - Sachin Ahir and Amasha Padvi (Shiv Sena), Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and Eknath Khadse (Nationalist Congress Party) and Bhai Jagtap (Congress) have won.

All the BJP's nominees -- Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bhartiya, Uma Khapre and Prasad Lad -- sailed through though they were running short on numbers.

This proved to be the second major setback for the MVA after the BJP - under similar circumstances - bagged three Rajya Sabha seats, while the ruling alliance secured three, with one each for Sena-NCP-Congress, while the Sena's second candidate was defeated.

--IANS

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