 "Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis, Milind Deora, Hemant Soren… Big winners and losers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand elections")
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has scored a monster win in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, while the JMM-led INDI Alliance has defied exit poll predictions and crossed the majority mark and secured a third straight term in power.
In Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance — comprising the BJP, Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction, and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena — sailed past the halfway mark. The alliance was ahead in 230 seats.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was ahead in 50 seats in the 288-member Assembly, where the majority mark is 145.
As votes are still being counted, we take a look at how the heavyweights are faring so far in the polls.
Catch up on all the live updates from the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections
MAHARASHTRA
Eknath Shinde
The current chief minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde has won from Maharashtra’s Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency with a margin of over one lakh votes.
Shinde is the incumbent candidate from the constituency; he defeated Congress’ Ghadigaonkar Sanjay Pandurang in the 2019 Assembly elections by a margin of 88,978.
Devendra Fadnavis
The state’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has won from the Nagpur South West seat.
Fadnavis defeated the Congress’ Congress’s Prafulla Vinodrao Gudadhe by a margin of over 39,000 votes.
This is Fadnavis’ consecutive win from the seat.
A seasoned BJP leader and a key figure in the party’s state machinery, adnavis banked on his development track record and political clout to secure victory.
Fadnavis has represented Nagpur South West since 2009, steadily building a stronghold in the constituency.
Ajit Pawar
Maharashtra’s second Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar won from the Baramati constituency in Maharashtra. The seasoned politician who split from his uncle, Sharad Pawar, in 2023, defeatedhis nephew Yugendra Pawar in the prestigious constituency which is a family stronghold.
Ajit defeated Yugendra by a massive margin of 1.16 lakh votes.
At the state level, the Pawar family has won Baramati in every election since 1967. Sharad Pawar held the seat from 1967 to 1991, after which Ajit Pawar took over.
Aaditya Thackeray
The young Thackeray has repeated his 2019 win from the Worli constituency in south Mumbai.
He has defeated Eknath Shinde-Shiv Sena’s Milind Deora with a margin of 8,801 votes.
In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Aaditya Thackeray had made his electoral debut and emerged victorious with a massive margin of over 67,000 votes.
Nana Patole
Congress leader Nana Patole defeated Avinash Anandrao Brahmankar of the BJP from the Sakoli Assembly constituency.
According to Scroll, Patole beat Brahmankar by a razor-thin margin of 208 votes.
Patole, a four-time legislator and current Maharashtra Congress president, is a central figure in this race.
A former BJP leader, Patole parted ways with the party in 2017, citing disagreements over farmer issues.
Brahmankar had entered the fray on behalf of the Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction.
Zeeshan Siddique
Zeeshan Siddique, the son of slain leader Baba Siddique, from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has lost to Shiv Sena’s (UBT) Varun Sardesai from the Vandre East Assembly constituency.
The difference between the two was 11,365 votes.
During the 2019 Assembly election, Zeeshan Siddique, who was with Congress, won with 5,790 votes. Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Pandurang Mahadeshwar finished runner-up as he got 32,547 votes.
Amit Thackeray
MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray, who entered the poll fray from Mahim in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, came in third.
Mahesh Baliram Sawant of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena emerged as the winner in this seat, with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Sada Sarvankar coming in second.
Rahul Narwekar
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar has won the Colaba seat with a margin of over 48,581 votes.
He won the Colaba seat in 2019 with a strong 53.85 per cent vote share.
Shaina NC
Shinde Sena candidate Shaina NC lost from the Mumbadevi constituency in Mumbai to Congress leader Amin Patel.
Patel who won the seat thrice earlier — in 2009, 2014 and 2019 — defeated Shaina NC by 34,844 votes.
This seat was previously held by the BJP until Congress won the constituency in the 2009 Assembly elections.
Prithviraj Chavan
The former Maharashtra chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan has lost from the Karad constituency.
Chavan was up against BJP leader and sugar baron Atul Bhosale, who is considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Chavan polled 1,00,150 votes against BJP candidate Dr Atulbaba Bhosale’s 1,39,505 votes in the constituency considered a stronghold of Congress.
Chavan’s loss is considered a severe jolt to Congress as he has been an MLA from the Karad (South) seat since 2014.
The 78-year-old leader served as the chief minister from 2010 to 2014 and was a minister of state for various ministries during the UPA regime.
In 2019, Chavan won the polls by a narrow margin of 6,000 votes against Bhosale.
Nitesh Rane
The BJP firebrand leader has won the Kankavli seat by a margin of over 58,000 votes. He was up against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Sandesh Bhaskar Parkar.
In the last Assembly election in 2019, BJP’s Nitesh Narayan Rane won the seat by defeating Shiv Sena’s Satish Jagannath Sawant.
Nawab Malik
NCP candidate Nawab Malik was defeated by the SP’s Abu Azmi in the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Seat in Mumbai’s Maharashtra.
Malik came fourth in the race with just 15,501 votes.
Azmi got 54,780 votes, while the runner-up Atiquee Ahmad Khan of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen netted 42,027 votes.
Suresh Patel of Shinde Sena came in third with 35,263 votes.
Rohit Pawar
Rohit Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) has defeated the BJP’s Ram Shankar Shinde.
Pawar, who was first elected as an MLA from the Karjat-Jamkhed seat in the 2019 Assembly polls, defeated Shinde by 1.243 votes.
Amit Deshmukh
Congress leader Amit Desmukh defeated the BJP’s Dr Arhchana Patil Chakurkar in Latur City constituency.
Deshmukh, son of late Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, got 1,12,518 votes compared to 1,05,545 votes for Patil Chakurkar.
JHARKHAND
Hemant Soren
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has won from the Barhait seat.
He was up against the BJP’s Galiyel Hembrom in the seat.
Soren defeated Hembrom by a margin of 39,791 votes.
Soren has been representing Barhait constituency since 2014.
He won from the Dumka seat in 2009 and again in 2019 along with the Barhait (ST) constituency and gave up the former in 2020.
Champai Soren
Champai Soren, famously known as the “Kolhan Tiger” has triumphed from the Seraikela seat.
Champai, who switched to the BJP earlier, was facing his former colleague and JMM candidate Ganesh Mahali.
Champai prevailed by a margin of over 20,000 votes.
He has held this seat since Jharkhand’s first Assembly election in 2005.
He has won this seat seven straight times.
Babulal Marandi
Babulal Marandi, the head of the BJP unit in Jharkhand, has defeated JMM’s Nijamuddin Ansari from the Dhanwar seat.
Marandi defeated Ansari by a margin of 35,438 votes.
Marandi was Jharkhand’s first chief minister. He was appointed as the state BJP chief in July last year. Marandi served as the leader of the BJP legislature party in the Jharkhand Assembly from February 2020 to October 2023.
Kalpana Soren
Kalpana Soren, the wife of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, has defeated the BJP’s Muniya Devi in Gandey constituency.
Kalpana margin of victory was 17,142 votes.
Kalpana bagged her maiden victory in May 2024, defeating then-BJP candidate Dilip Kumar Verma by over 26,000 votes.
Since 1977, the JMM has secured a win in Gandey six times, while the BJP and Congress have emerged victorious twice.
With inputs from agencies
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