Congress stalwarts Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat bite dust; Patole survives

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shine of Shiv Sena and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar from BJP and NCP, respectively, are among the prominent candidates to win the assembly elections, results of which were declared on Saturday.

All ministers of the Mahayuti, who were in the fray, won.

Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule also emerged victorious.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray and Varun Sardesai won from Mumbai. Sardesai defeated NCP candidate Zeeshan Siddique from the Vandre East constituency.

Former Maharashtra CM and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat, AICC incharge of Goa, Manikrao Thakre, Shiv Sena contestant Shaina NC and MNS debutant candidate Amit Thackeray bit the dust.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole survived a scare from his nearest BJP rival in the Sakoli assembly constituency but managed to win the tight contest by a narrow margin of 208 votes.

Former Union minister minister Milind Deora was defeated by Aaditya Thackeray from Worli seat.

BJP nominee Archana Patil Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of former Lok Sabha speaker Shivraj Patil, was defeated by Congress MLA Amit Deshmukh, son of late Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, in Latur City constituency by 6,973 votes.

In Latur Rural, BJP MLC Ramesh Karad defeated Vilasrao's another son and Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh, by 6,595 votes.

NCP (SP) nominee Yugendra Pawar, grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, was trounced by Ajit Pawar in the Baramati constituency.

In Nashik district, Independent candidate Sameer Bhujbal, who had quit the NCP to contest from Nandgaon seat, lost to Shiv Sena candidate.

Among debutants, Sreejaya Chavan, daughter of ex-CM Ashok Chavan, won on the BJP ticket from Bhokar seat in Nanded district.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats, as the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 46 seats.

The Election Commission announced that the BJP has won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena won 57, while the NCP got 41 seats.