Month after 4-2 Lok Sabha tally in Mumbai, MVA bags both its MLC seats; BJP wins from Konkan

MUMBAI: MVA took both seats in last week’s legislative council election in the city whose results were announced on Monday, with Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates Anil Parab and J M Abhyankar emerging victorious from Mumbai graduates and Mumbai teachers constituencies.
Niranjan Davkhare of BJP won from Konkan graduates constituency, while Kishor Darade of Shiv Sena was leading in Nashik teachers constituency by 9,103 votes after the counting of first preference votes.If Darade wins, Mahayuti will level the score two-two in the four constituencies where the election was held Wednesday.
Parab, who has been targeted by BJP over corruption charges, defeated Kiran Shelar of BJP by over 26,000 votes. “I have got the highest votes in the history of Mumbai graduates election,” he said.
J M Abhyankar of Shiv Sena (UBT) won from Mumbai teachers constituency defeating Subhash More of Shikshak Bharti by over 4,083 votes in an election that also had Shivaji Nalawade of the NCP and Shivnath Darade of BJP as candidates.
Niranjan Davkhare of BJP defeated Ramesh Keer of Congress by 72,134 votes to win from the Konkan graduates constituency.
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Anil Parab, who emerged victorious from the Mumbai graduates constituency, said MVA was on course to win the upcoming assembly polls. The Mumbai graduates election had turned into a prestige battle as the BJP was looking to hit back at the MVA after the recent Lok Sabha election, in which the MVA won four of the six seats in the city. It was also the first time the BJP was fighting from the Mumbai graduates constituency in over three decades.
After his victory, Parab thanked Shiv Sena (UBT) workers, party chief Uddhav Thackeray and party youth wing chief Aaditya Thackeray. “There was no fear in our minds, but this govt can do anything, so we were cautious. I will have to take a class for BJP’s Ashish Shelar on elections. We will fight the assembly polls and win them as MVA,” Parab said.
In the Nashik teachers vote counting, Darade was leading against Vivek Kolhe of the BJP (contesting as independent), Sandeep Gulve of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Mahendra Bhavsar of the NCP. The counting of second prefe rence votes was under way at the time of going to press.
Returning officer Praveen Gedam said Mahayuti candidate Darade garnered 26,475 votes as first preference in the preferential election counting. The quota for winning has been decided at 31,576 votes, or 50% of the valid votes.
The closest second in the Nashik teachers seat was Kolhe, who bagged 17,372 votes.
Gulve was next with 16,280 votes. At the time of going to press, counting for second preferential votes had begun with elimination of the candidates at the bottom of the chart. In this, the votes received by the candidate to be eliminated are be opened again and distributed to candidates who have received the second preference votes.
Political observers said the Mumbai graduates election was a real test of the organisational strength of the Sena (UBT) and BJP and their resource mobilisation capacity in the city. “The BJP fared badly in Mumbai, losing two seats in the Lok Sabha polls. This reflected badly on the party organisation in Mumbai. Now with BJP losing the Mumbai graduates constituency, it is a big setback for the party ahead of the assembly election. This will hurt the morale of the cadre and raise a big question mark on the leadership in the city and the mobilisation capacity of the MLAs since the BJP had roped in all its MLAs and MLCs in the city to campaign. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has proved that its shakha network and organisation are still strongly with Uddhav Thackeray,” a political observer said.