Maharashtra Legislative Council Elections: Big blow to BJP in Nitin Gadkari and Devendra Fadnavis' home constituency

In Maharashtra, the BJP suffered a jolt in one of its most important bastions when the candidate of the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance defeated the party's candidate in the Maharashtra Legislative Council seat in Nagpur. This result is being considered as a major setback for the BJP in the headquarters of the ideological organization RSS and the home constituency of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Officials said that MVA's Sudhakar Adable won the Nagpur teachers' seat in the Nagpur teachers' seat in the state elections held after Shiv Sena's dissident Eknath Shinde ousted Uddhav Thackeray and formed the government with the BJP in June.

The biennial elections to the upper house of the state legislature were primarily between the ruling alliance of the BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction and MVA-backed candidates from Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena camp, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The six-year term of five council members, including three from teachers and two from graduate constituencies, ends on February 7 and voting was held on Monday. Teachers and graduates who fulfilled certain criteria and were enrolled as voters were eligible to exercise franchise in these elections.

Konkan Teachers' constituency recorded the highest voter turnout of 91.02 per cent, while Nashik Division graduate seat saw the lowest turnout of 49.28 per cent. In Aurangabad, Nagpur, Konkan division, 86, 86.23 and 91.02 votes were cast respectively. Apart from Nagpur, another close contest took place in Nashik division graduate seat. Here three-time council member Sudhir Tambe was the official candidate of the Congress but did not file his nomination. When Sudhir Tambe was out of the election, his son Satyajit Tambe decided to contest as an independent. Congress later suspended both of them. According to officials, Satyajit Tambe is currently leading in the election.