In a major win for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Sudhakar Adbale, supported by the MVA, won the Nagpur teachers constituency defeating his closest rival Nagorao Ganar, a BJP-backed independent and the sitting MLC from the seat. Nagpur is the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Adbale, MVA-backed Vidarbha Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh candidate, won 16,700 votes while Ganar bagged 8,211 votes.
In the Legislative Council elections, the MVA emerged victorious in two out of five seats. Polling for biennial elections to the five seats of the Upper House of the legislature took place on January 30.
From the Nashik division graduates’ constituency, Independent candidate Satyajeet Tambe, who was formerly with the Congress, won, defeating MVA’s Shubhangi Patil.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained its lone Aurangabad division graduates’ constituency with its candidate Vikram Kale bagging 20,195 votes.
From the Konkan division teachers’ constituency, which had eight candidates in fray, BJP candidate Dyaneshwar Mhatre defeated sitting MLC Balaram Patil of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) by winning 20,648 votes.
The Konkan teachers constituency covers Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, and had recorded the highest voter turnout at 91.02 per cent.
MVA’s Dheeraj Lingade was leading in Amravati division graduates’ seat with 43,614 votes, and BJP candidate Ranjit Patil was trailing with 41,248 votes, as of 9:15 AM on Friday, reported Lok Satta.
The six-year term of five Council members – three from teachers and two from graduates constituencies – is expiring on February 7 and polling took place to fill the seats. Teachers and graduates fulfilling certain criteria and enrolled as voters formed the electoral college for these elections.
The BJP-Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena government faced electoral defeat evidently due to their stand on the implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS). Fadnavis, in the state Assembly, had said the government will never go back to the OPS. However, sensing the mood of graduate and teacher voters, they had stepped back and both Fadnavis and Shinde had said that they were not negative about OPS.