Mumbai, Jul 12 (IANS): The ruling MahaYuti, which comprises BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, on Friday won nine seats while the Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT bagged one each seat in the biennial elections to the 11 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
The Peasants and Workers Party legislator Jayant Patil, who was supported by NCP-SP, lost the election.
The MahaYuti succeeded in getting additional votes due to a split in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) as at least 10 legislators reportedly cross-voted.
The MVA failed to repeat its winning performance in the Lok Sabha elections during the council elections while the MahaYuti succeeded in wiping out its low-key performance in the general elections by winning nine seats by mobilising adequate votes. MahaYuti thus outsmarted the MVA.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde claimed that Friday's performance marks the beginning of MahaYuti's victory in the upcoming Assembly election slated for September-October.
As many as 274 Assembly members cast their votes in Friday's voting. The quota per seat was 23 votes.
BJP's elected nominees included former minister Pankaja Munde (26), former minister of state Parinay Fuke (26), former minister of state Sadabhau Khot (23), former state youth wing chief Yogesh Tilekar (26) and party functionary Amit Gorkhe (26).
Shiv Sena nominees comprising former MPs Krupal Tumane (25) and Bhavana Gawli (24) emerged victorious. NCP nominees Rajesh Vitekar (23) and Shivajirao Garje (24) also won.
Congress nominee Pradnya Satav managed to win despite cross-voting.
The Shiv Sena UBT nominee Milind Narvekar also won by getting 24 votes with the support of party legislators and backing from the Congress party. PWP legislator Jayant Patil polled 12 votes from NCP-SP.
The MahaYuti, which bagged 17 seats against MVA's 31 in the Lok Sabha elections, put up a show of unity and succeeded in shoring up more votes than its total strength.
The BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP had done exhaustive planning to avoid a split among their votes. The NCP in particular took extra efforts to avoid cross-voting despite reports that few legislators were in touch with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP.
The Congress despite strong warning from the party high command failed to keep its flock together.
Of the Samajwadi Party’s two legislators, one has reportedly cast his vote to Narvekar while another to NCP. On the other hand, AIMIM's two legislators have reportedly cast their votes in favour of Shiv Sena.
The party-wise strength in the Assembly is BJP 103 MLAs, Shiv Sena 37 (support from 10 Independents), NCP 40, Congress 37, Shiv Sena-UBT 16, NCP-SP 12, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 3, Samajwadi Party 2, AIMIM 2, Parihar Janshakti Party 2, MNS 1, PWP 1, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha 1, CMP 1, Krantikari Shetkari Party 1, Swabhimani Paksha 1, Jan Surajya Shakti 1 and Independents 13.