Maharashtra Council Poll: Jolt to BJP as MVA bags 3 of 5 seats

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ The Congress on Friday won the Amravati division graduates constituency, taking the tally of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to three in elections for five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, a result which has come as a jolt to the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party-Balasahebnachi Shiv Sena alliance.

Congress candidate Dhiraj Lingade won the Amravati constituency, where counting started on Thursday morning and stretched to more than 32 hours and went on till late Friday afternoon, by defeating sitting legislator Ranjit Patil of the BJP.

Thus, the Congress has snatched the seat from the BJP. With this, poll results of all the five seats from teachers and graduates segments of the Council are now available and the outcome shows the MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, has emerged as the clear winner.

Voting for biennial elections to five Council seats — three teachers segments (falling in Nagpur, Konkan and Aurangabad divisions) and two graduates constituencies (Nashik and Amravati divisions) was held on January 30. The results of four other seats of the Upper House of the legislature were declared on Thursday, and two of them were won by the MVA.