Maharashtra Election Results: Nilesh Rane Defeats 2-Time MLA Vaibhav Naik In Kudal Constituency With Over 8,000 Votes

The Kudal constituency is situated in the Sindhudurg district, which is one of the oldest settlements in the Konkan region.

File photo of Shiv Sena candidate Nilesh Rane.

Source : Nilesh Rane will join Shiv Sena Shinde group

Maharashtra Assembly Election Results: Two Sena leaders, Nilesh Rane and Vaibhav Naik, from different factions faced each other in the Kudal constituency in Maharashtra. 

Shiv Sena's Nilesh Rane defeated Naik, the incumbent MLA from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), with a margin of 8,176 votes. While Rane, the candidate of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), received 81,659 votes, Naik got 73,483 votes. 

Rane, son of BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, has significant political leverage and holds political leverage buoyed by his father's influence, while on the other hand Naik is looking to retain his seat and uphold the Sena's legacy in Kudal.

The contest was expected to be highly competitive, with both leaders vying for crucial voter support, making it a critical battle driven by local issues. The Kudal constituency is situated in the Sindhudurg district, which is one of the oldest settlements in the Konkan region.

Naik has successfully held the position for two consecutive terms in 2014 and 2019. Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Kalsalkar Ravindra Harishchandra, Maharashtra Swarajya Party's (MSP) Anantraj Nandkishor Patkar, and Independent candidate Ujwala Vijay Yelavikar were among other candidates in the election.
 
The BJP is contesting the election in alliance with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's NCP and other smaller parties. On the other hand, in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Congress,  Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) are in alliance. 

In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly Elections, Shiv Sena candidate Naik polled 69,168 votes with a vote share of 50.9%. He defeated Independent candidate Ranjit Dattatray Desai, who got 54,819 votes (40.34%). Congress candidate Arvind Namdeo Mondkar stood third with 3,527 votes (2.6%), and Independent candidate Balkrishna Vitthal Jadhav was in the fourth position with just 3,129 votes (2.3%). The total number of valid votes polled was 1,359,00 (62.91%).

The counting of votes in the Maharashtra assembly elections began at 8 am on Saturday, with the latest trends giving a lead to Mahayuti/Maha Vikas Aghadi. While the ruling Mahayuti alliance has got 235 seats, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has got 49 seats.