Pune/Nagpur: Knives are out within Mahayuti after the ruling coalition managed to win only two of the five seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections, while Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured victory in three — touted as a big turnaround after the assembly poll drubbing.The biggest embarrassment for BJP was in Nagpur graduates constituency, where Congress’ Abhijit Wanjarri secured a second consecutive term, defeating party nominee Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes in a nail-biting finish that went beyond 41 hours of counting. While Wanjarri was the lone Congress warrior to win an MLC election across India, he also trounced his rival in the RSS citadel and home turf of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, despite the senior leadership in the vanguard of the campaign and its mammoth organisational machinery in place.Wanjarri told reporters after his victory he used “brains against BJP’s might”. The result surprised BJP circles, where confidence in Kohale’s prospects had persisted even as fortunes oscillated during counting.Within hours of the results, a blame game played out between BJP and its ally Shiv Sena, with both parties accusing each other of failing to support alliance candidates. BJP contested three seats, including Pune graduates and teachers constituencies and Nagpur graduates seat, but managed to bag only the Pune graduates’ seat. A day after counting, senior BJP leader and cabinet minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said senior alliance members would review the results. “We will track down who played spoilsport. Corrective measures will be taken,” he said.In the run-up to polls, the MLC seats in Pune division became a bone of contention between Mahayuti allies with BJP contesting both graduates and teachers’ constituencies, despite Shinde-Sena staking its claim to twin seats. Instead of backing its ally, Sena supported rebels from its own party against BJP nominees. After deliberations, Sena rebel Mangesh Chivte withdrew from the graduates’ constituency contest, while another, Sachin Sanap, continued to challenge BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade. Although Gawade managed to snatch a victory, BJP on Thursday expressed disappointment over Shiv Sena’s stand.A BJP leader said, “While in the teachers’ constituency, Sena supported a rebel candidate, in the graduates’ constituency, its workers openly campaigned against our candidate, Smita Jadhav, and we lost. Had Mahayuti contested unitedly, we would have won all five seats.” Sena hit back at BJP. Former MLA and Pune unit chief Ravindra Dhangekar said, “The results show BJP should stop taking its alliance partners for granted. The verdict has come as a reality check for BJP.”The contest in Aurangabad graduates’ constituency too turned into a battle between the two factions of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, Sunetra Pawar’s faction did not receive support from its ally, Shiv Sena, which has a strong presence in the Marathwada region.NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil defeated NCP’s Satish Chavan. Following the results, senior Sena leader Abdul Sattar admitted on Thursday he backed Sharad Pawar’s candidate instead of his alliance partner’s nominee. Sattar criticised NCP for nominating Chavan and said the party should introspect.“In previous elections, our party workers supported the Mahayuti candidate. However, this time, the candidate selection was wrong, so we did not campaign for him. The results also reveal that educated voters are moving away from us, and we need to take corrective measures,” Sattar said. With the defeat in the Aurangabad seat, NCP failed to open its account. Party chief Sunetra Pawar said, “Winning and losing are part of every election, but every outcome is a lesson.”The biggest setback for BJP came in its stronghold of Nagpur. The outcome has put BJP’s candidate selection under scrutiny. Former MLC Anil Sole, a Gadkari confidante who was denied a ticket, entered the fray as an Independent. He agreed to stop campaigning only after Fadnavis visited his home to address the dispute. The extent to which the rebellion affected Kohale’s prospects remains unclear. But, more than 15,000 votes were declared invalid, including nearly 9,000 ballots reportedly marked with the number ‘2’ against Kohale but without preferences for other 37 candidates. The unusually high number has prompted questions about whether ballots reflected voter error or dissatisfaction over candidate selection. Kohale has said he would appeal against invalid votes.Besides being the home turf of Fadnavis and Gadkari, who represented the graduates’ constituency from 1990 to 2014, BJP’s attempt to reclaim the seat was therefore tied to its political legacy in the region as well as its organisational strength.“Nagpur and Pune were prestigious seats for us. I was in charge of Nagpur, but unfortunately, we still fell short. I take responsibility for the defeat in Nagpur. We will ensure we win the seat in the next elections,” said Bawankule.
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