Maharashtra council polls: Cross-voting charges mar ruling alliance’s clean sweep

MAharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti confederation won 16 come out of 17 legislative council seats on mon, even out though allegations of cross-voting and tacit back up from a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership for a rebel candidate against the Shiv Sena for the Nashik seat marred a clean sweep.BJP rebel Gokul Geete, who contested as an Independent, defeated the Mahayuti’s candidate, Shiv Sena leader Narendra Darade, triggering the allegations.The polling for the legislative council seats was held on June 18. The BJP won 11 of the 17 seats. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena secured three seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar bagged two seats.The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) failed to win any seat, dealing a fresh blow to the alliance as Shiv Sena (UBT), a key constituent of the grouping, faces the defection of its members of Parliament (MPs). On Sunday, two of the six rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs announced their defection to Shiv Sena. Four more defections are expected to follow.Shiv Sena leaders in Nashik blamed the “silent support” from BJP leaders for Geete’s victory, even though Darade was the Mahayuti’s candidate. Geete secured 357 votes and Darade 248. Geete, the brother of local BJP leader Ganesh Geete, is believed to have managed the support of a section of BJP and NCP members in the local bodies.Members of the rural and urban local bodies, which went to the polls four months ago, formed the electoral college for the 17 legislative council seats. In Nashik, the BJP has 186 members in the local bodies out of 619. The Shiv Sena has 161, and the NCP has 107.Darade accused Mahayuti leaders of betrayal, saying he was backstabbed. The development is likely to exacerbate the friction between the BJP and Shiv Sena. Sena leaders had expressed concerns over possible cross-voting during the election.Shiv Sena leader and minister Uday Samant and BJP leader Girish Mahajan met with Geete to convince him to withdraw from the contest. But Geete stayed in the fray, claiming that he holds no official post in the BJP. “This cannot happen without the tacit support of the BJP leadership,” a Shiv Sena leader from Nashik said, requesting anonymity.The BJP contested 11 seats, Shiv Sena four, and NCP two as per the Mahayuti seat-sharing arrangement. Six seats were won unopposed after candidates from the opposition MVA, smaller parties, and independents withdrew from the contest.