The Indian National Congress candidate and Maharashtra Congress Chief, Nana Patole, has won the Sakoli seat in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections by a margin of 208 votes, according to the Election Commission of India. Patole, representing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), seeking a third term from Sakoli, faced stiff competition from Avinash Anandrao Brahmankar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), fielded by the Mahayuti alliance.
Vote counting for all 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra began at 8 AM on November 23, alongside counting for 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand.
Nana Patole had previously won the Sakoli seat in 2009 and 2019. However, the anti-incumbency sentiment in the constituency worked in favour of Brahmankar this time.
Patole, a native of Sukli village in Sakoli and a strong advocate for farmers and OBC communities in Vidarbha, started his political career with the Congress in 1990. He later joined the BJP in 2008 and became the MLA for Sakoli in 2009. In 2014, he also served as an MP for Bhandara-Gondia.
Disillusioned with the BJP’s policies on farmers, Patole resigned from his Lok Sabha seat in 2017 and rejoined the Congress. In 2019, he reclaimed the Sakoli Assembly seat with a margin of 6,240 votes. However, his bid for a third term in 2024 fell short, marking a significant setback for the Congress in the region.