INDIA: After the BJP won three of Maharashtra’s six Rajya Sabha seats, NCP head Sharad Pawar said on Saturday that he was not surprised by the results and that his party earned one additional vote from an independent member who was biased against the BJP.
The BJP candidates Piyush Goyal, a Union minister, and Anil Bonde, a former state minister, as well as Dhananjay Mahadik, won the fiercely contested election held on Friday.
Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Praful Patel of the NCP, and Imran Pratapgarhi of the Congress were the winners. Sanjay Pawar, the Sena’s second candidate, was defeated by Mahadik of the BJP.
“I am not shocked to see the results. If you see the votes polled by every candidate of (Maha Vikas Aghadi allies) NCP, Shiv Sena, and Congress, they received the votes as per the quota. Only Praful Patel (of NCP) received one extra vote, and I know from where it came. That was not MVA’s vote, it was from the opposite side,” Pawar said.
He said there was a significant margin for the sixth seat, which Shiv Sena fought, but MVA showed guts and put in the effort.
“The BJP had more Independent MLAs on its side, but the amount of votes was insufficient for both the BJP and the MVA,” he said.
“Despite falling short of a few numbers, the MVA made a valiant attempt to gain the sixth seat,” Pawar said.
“But one must recognise the miracle, in which BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in weaning away independents and tiny parties who would have supported the MVA.”
“The quota for first preference votes for Patel (NCP), Pratapgarhi (Congress), and Raut (Shiv Sena) remained intact,” he claimed.
“Praful Patel, in fact, obtained an extra vote from a BJP-aligned independent MLA who voted for Patel after alerting me.”
“Previously, the independent legislator and I collaborated,” Pawar explained.
According to the NCP leader, the state’s Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government is not in danger.
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