Even as the Maha Vikas Aghadi has managed to establish a lead over the ruling Mahayuti in most of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra as per the trends so far, six constituencies are experiencing a close neck-to-neck contest. Amravati, Beed, Bhandara-Gondia, Hatkanangale, Mumbai North-West, and Satara, are the constituencies where the fortunes of the main candidates are likely to see witness fluctuations as counting progresses.
A close contest is unfolding in Beed between former Maharashtra minister and BJP's Pankaja Munde and her nearest rival Bajrang Sonawane from the NCP (SP). Similarly in Amravati, BJP's Navneet Rana and Congress nominee Balwant Wankhade are witnessing a neck-to-neck fight.
Bhandara-Gondia is seeing a close battle between Congress's Prashant Padole and Sunil Mendhe of the saffron camp.
With sitting Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane in a tight race with Satyajeet Patil of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Hatkanangale is also emerging as a close contest. Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Paksha is the third candidate in the race from this seat.
In Mumbai North-West, too, the results are fluctuating in the fight between Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena. Kirtikar has polled 11,219 votes lead by afternoon.
Satara in western Maharashtra is likely to have a close contest between Shashikant Shinde of the NCP (SP) and Udayanraje Bhosale of the BJP with Shinde leading by 784 votes.
Meanwhile, in the Latur constituency in the state's Marathwada region as well, there is a neck-to-neck fight between Congress candidate Dr Shivaji Kalge and BJP's Sudhakar Shrangare. In the 10 rounds of counting of votes held by 2 pm, Kalge was leading by 23,212 votes. While Kalge got 2,32,154 votes, Shrangare bagged 2,08,942.
BJP-Led Mahayuti Faces Major Setback in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra faced a significant setback in Vidarbha, a region once considered its stronghold. The coalition partners managed to secure only three out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the area. This marked a considerable decline from the 2014 elections when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won all 10 seats and from 2019 when they secured nine seats.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari led in the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency by approximately 48,650 votes against his Congress opponent, Vikas Thakre. In Bhandara-Gondia, the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Sunil Mendhe maintained a lead of around 5,000 votes in the third round of vote counting against the Congress candidate Dr Prashant Padole.
In Buldhana, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) candidate led by about 8,000 votes against the Shiv Sena (UBT) rival. The Amravati constituency witnessed a close contest between BJP candidate Navneet Rana and Congress candidate Balwant Wankhede, with both taking the lead at different points in the counting process.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates led across the remaining constituencies. Maharashtra minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Munganttiwar trailed behind his Congress opponent Pratibha Dhanorkar from the first round of counting in his consistency. In Gadchiroli, Congress nominee Namdeo Kirsan was significantly ahead of the BJP's sitting MP, Ashok Nete.
In Ramtek, the Mahayuti faced another potential defeat, with Congress candidate Shyamrao Barve leading in most rounds. In Wardha, incumbent MP Ramdas Tadad trailed behind NCP (Sharad Pawar) candidate Amar Kale by considerable margins.
In Akola, Congress nominee Dr Abhay Patil appeared to emerge victorious against BJP rival Anup Dhotre in every round of counting. Additionally, Prakash Ambedkar, leader of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, was reduced to a non-significant presence in the elections from the constituency.