Maharashtra MLC poll results: Boost for Mahayuti, setback for MVA

Mumbai: All nine candidates fielded by Mahayuti in the legislative council elections registered easy wins on Friday, providing a major boost to the ruling alliance after the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) gambit to win more seats in the elections than its strength in the assembly also failed, with one of its three candidates losing the election by virtue of getting the least number of votes.

MVA constituents were expecting some MLAs from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to cross-vote for their candidates. Not only did that not happen, voting figures indicate that at least six Congress MLAs may have voted for ruling party candidates. The ruling alliance also managed to secure votes from most independents and small parties.

The ruling alliance, which launched its bid to return to power in the assembly elections scheduled later this year by announcing several populist schemes, used the council election victory to claim that it has bounced back. All three leaders of the ruling alliance were quick to announce that their victory rally had begun.

“There was a fake narrative spread by some people to win the Lok Sabha elections. The effect has started receding. What happened today is the trailer. We will win the assembly elections,” said chief minister Shinde.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Some people were making tall claims that our candidates will lose. We got all our nine candidates elected. In fact, some of the opposition MLAs voted for us. In the assembly polls too, we will be victorious.”

With this victory, the Mahayuti has also managed to send a signal that there is no panic among its MLAs. This is significant since political circles were rife with speculation that several NCP and Shiv Sena MLAs would like to return to their parent factions led by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, respectively. It appears that none of their MLAs voted in favour of MVA candidates.

For the MVA which was flying high after its victory in the Lok Sabha election, the results served as a reminder that the assembly elections are not a done deal.

“The fact is that there was no cross-voting from NCP or Shiv Sena means that none of the MLAs who have been sending feelers to the Shiv sena (UBT) or NCP (SP) dared to defy CM Shinde or deputy CM Ajit Pawar. This would not have happened if they were sure that there is strong public sentiment in our favour. We will have to work further because the equations would be different in assembly elections,” said a top Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary.

In fact, the election also exposed cracks within the opposition coalition, most prominently in case of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader Jayant Patil’s loss. Although Patil’s candidature was backed by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Thackeray refused to support him since he suspected that Patil had not worked for Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Anant Geete in the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress too chose to give its surplus votes to the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate and not Patil. It remains to be seen if PWP stays in the MVA or quits the alliance in the coming days.