Maharashtra Assembly election: NCP takes strong lead in Pune district seats

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has secured strong leads in many of the 21 constituencies in Pune district, the home ground of party president Sharad Pawar.

As counting crossed its midway mark, trends suggested that the Nationalist Congress Party- Congress alliance continues to retain its hold on western Maharashtra.

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Senior Congressman and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, senior NCP leader and former Sikkim governor Shriniwas Patil, Sharad Pawar’s grandson Rohit Pawar and Congress’s Vishwajeet Kadam were among the prominent leaders who took early leads in their constituencies in the region.

In the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll, former NCP leader Udayanraje Bhosale, was trailing by over 23,000 votes behind the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil. Bhosale, a Chhatrapati Shivaji descendant, had resigned from his Lok Sabha membership barely three months after he was elected and joined the BJP to contest the bypoll.

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In Karjat-Jamkhed, NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar has taken a lead with over 15,000 votes over BJP candidate and minister in the outgoing government Ram Shinde.

In Karad South, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan was ahead of the BJP’s Atul Bhosale by a narrow margin.

Congress’s state unit president Balasaheb Thorat was leading over Sahebrao Navale in Sangamner.

In this keenly watched region of western Maharashtra, senior NCP leaders and former ministers Ajit Pawar and Dilip Walse Patil were leading in Baramati and Ambegaon respectively, even as the NCP appeared likely to score victories in Maval and Shirur constituencies represented by the BJP.

Purandar and Junnar were other constituencies in Pune district, where the NCP registered strong leads over the Shiv Sena.

Former minister Harshwardhan Patil, who recently quit the Congress and joined the BJP to contest from Indapur in the neighbouring Baramati constituency, was trailing behind NCP rival Dattaray Bharane.

BJP’s Pune district president and minister of state Bala Bhegade who was trailing behind NCP’s Sunil Shelke in Maval.

Shiv Sena’s Vijay Shivtare, three-term MLA and minister of state was also trailing by over 9,000 votes behind Congress rival Sanjay Jagtap in Purandar.