Fifteen candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra surpassed the 1-lakh victory margin in the recent state assembly elections, with the BJP leading the charge with eight such wins. Among them were prominent leaders like Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who triumphed in their respective strongholds of Kopri-Pachpakhadi and Baramati.
The 15 candidates include eight from the BJP, four from Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and three from Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction. Notably, no candidate from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) managed such a resounding victory, although several secured margins close to 90,000 votes.
The BJP’s Kashiram Vechan Pawara emerged as the biggest victor, winning from Shirpur with a margin of 145,944 votes, followed by Shivendraraje Bhonsale, who clinched victory in Satara with a 142,000-vote margin. Other BJP winners in the 1-lakh margin club included Kewalram Kale (106,859 votes from Melghat), Dilip Borse (129,297 votes from Baglan), Sanjay Upadhyay (100,257 votes from Borivali), Shankar Jagtap (103,865 votes from Chinchwad), Chandrakant Patil (112,041 votes from Kothrud), and Krishan Khopde (115,288 votes from Nagpur East).
Ajit Pawar, leading the NCP (SP) faction, won from Baramati with a margin of 100,899 votes, although this was less than his 1.65 lakh vote victory in 2019. Other notable wins from Ajit Pawar’s party included Sunil Shelke (108,565 votes from Maval), Ashutosh Kale (124,624 votes from Kopargaon), and Dhananjay Munde (140,224 votes from Parli).
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde secured a massive victory in Kopri-Pachpakhadi with a margin of 159,060 votes. Other Shinde faction winners included Pratap Sarnaik (108,158 votes from Ovala-Majiwada) and Dada Bhuse (106,606 votes from Malegaon Outer).
