advertisement
Describing Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP's) victory on three Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra as the "mandate of horse-trading," Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday, 11 June, accused the Election Commission (EC) of siding with the opposition party, which he claimed "put pressure" on the poll panel.
"In fact, Pawar got 33 first preference votes, while BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik got 27. But Mahadik scraped through on the basis of the second and third preference vote," he said.
Raut said the vote of Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande was disqualified, whereas BJP's two votes were retained even as the same mistake was committed citing which the Sena's vote was invalidated.
"We have taken note of this development," he said adding that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was distressed over the defeat of Sanjay Pawar.
Earlier in the day, while talking to reporters soon after the results were declared, Raut had said that the BJP's victory was not as huge as it was being made out to be.
The top leaders of his party had made a detailed plan for the Rajya Sabha polls to ensure a victory for Pawar, but some MLAs did not vote for them, he said.
"The top leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had also worked hard to ensure victory for Sanjay Pawar," he added.
The Sena (Raut), NCP (Praful Patel), and Congress (Imran Pratapgarhi) won one seat each.
Of the 284 valid votes, Goyal polled 48, Bonde 48, Mahadik 41.56, Raut 41, Pratapgarhi 44 and Patel 43.
Both BJP and the Shiv Sena approached the Election Commission, alleging breach of election rules and seeking disqualification of votes.
The poll panel directed the Rajya Sabha election returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande, after which the counting of votes got underway after 1 am.
"Rajya Sabha polls are a complex and rigid process and they take first preference and second preference votes. They won on the basis of the second preference vote, so best wishes to them," he said.
Raut expressed confidence that all the candidates fielded by the Sena would win the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls for 10 seats scheduled on June 20.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: undefined