Ahead of the assembly polls slated to be held in Maharashtra this year, all nine candidates of the Mahayuti (ruling alliance), won on Friday in the Legislative Council polls. Following the big win after the losses in Lok Sabha polls, CM Eknath Shinde said that it was a trailer ahead of the assembly elections. Meanwhile, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said the alliance would work in unison to ensure victory later this year.
Talking to reporters, CM Shinde claimed that the opposition set up a false narrative in the Lok Sabha polls, which misled the people.
"Mahayuti has registered a big win. This is a good start. A false narrative (that the Constitution will be changed by the BJP) was set. People were misled. Mahayuti's victory (in the legislative council polls) is a trailer," he said.
He also thanked the MLAs for voting in favour of Mahayuti.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the opposition had claimed a candidate of the ruling alliance would lose. However, the results showed otherwise with Mahayuti bagging votes of not just its constituents but also from the legislators of Maha Vikas Aghadi.
In the Council polls held today, the Bharatiya Janata Party won five seats, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged two seats each. This led the ruling alliance to secure nine of the 11 seats, where polls were held earlier in the day.
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Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA), Milind Narvekar, who is a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also won. Besides him, another opposition leader from Congress Pradnya Satav won in the Council polls.
However, Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, who was supported by NCP (SP), lost the polls.
'Will Work Unitedly To Ensure Victory In Assembly Polls': Ajit Pawar
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stated that the reason behind the victory of Mahayuti candidates were the multiple meetings held by him, Fadnavis and Shinde, aimed towards ensure better coordination and sharing of responsibilities.
He said the Mahayuti will work unitedly to ensure victory of the alliance in assembly polls later this year.
The NCP had fielded Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje, both of whom won despite the Ajit Pawar's party falling short of votes.
"We (NCP) had 42 votes but MLAs gave more votes to Vitekar and Garje. There were rumours there will be a split (in the NCP and some of its MLAs could cross vote)," Pawar said.
The election was necessitated as 11 members of the legislative council (MLCs) will be completing their six-year term on July 27.