Cong, Sena bag council seats in Mumbai; BJP man loses

Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap and Shiv Sena's Ramdas Kadam were on Monday declared elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the local self-government bodies' constituency. BJP nominee Madhu Chavan was defeated.

The development comes two days after former state BJP chief Nitin Gadkari was named BJP president. Chavan did not get the second preference votes of Sena. "The numbers were stacked against Chavan but it would have been in keeping with the alliance dharma if Sena had cast second preference votes to him," a BJP leader said.

Biennial elections for eight council seats were held on December 18. Congress nominee Amrish Patel has already been declared elected unopposed from the Dhule-Nandurbar local bodies.

The elections were necessitated as the sitting members in these constituencies retire on January 1, 2010. The constituencies where the elections were held are Mumbai (2), one each in Solapur, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Nagpur and Akola-Washim-Buldhana.

Apart from the biennial elections, by-poll to Nashik graduates constituency was also held as sitting MLC of BJP Prakash Sonawane was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. His term was to end on December 5, 2010.

In Nagpur, Congress candidate Rajendra Mulak defeated sitting BJP MLC Ashok Mankar by four votes. In Ahmednagar, Independent candidate Arun Jagtap defeated Congress candidate Jayant Sasane by 40 votes. In Solapur, NCP candidate Deepak Salunkhe defeated Congress rebel Kalyan Kale by 81 votes.

In Mumbai, Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap and Shiv Sena candidate Ramdas Kadam won the Council elections. In Kolhapur, Congress Mahadev Mahadik defeated Jayant Patil of Jan Swarajya Party. In Buldhana, Shiv Sena's Gopikishan Bajoria won by 347 votes against NCP's Radheshyam Chandak.

BJP should explain why it fielded Chavan: Sena

Responding to criticism that it did not abide by the coalition dharma in the recent Legislative Council elections, Shiv Sena on Monday said alliance partner BJP should explain why it fielded Madhu Chavan when the numbers were stacked against that party.

"BJP fielded Chavan despite the fact that it had only 29 votes, far less than what was needed for victory. Those talking about coalition dharma should also remember that it is about taking alliance partner into confidence while fielding candidates," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said.

"Would BJP have fielded Chavan had there been open ballot system," Gorhe said. "BJP leaders should explain Sena chief Bal Thackeray the basis on which Chavan was fielded," she added.