By IANS
Mumbai : The Congress-led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra got a jolt when one of its candidates lost the election to the Maharashtra legislative council Wednesday.
The opposition combine of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a much-needed boost in the run-up to next year’s assembly elections when all its candidates sailed through.
The elections to the nine seats, for which there were 10 candidates from different parties, were held here.
Congress’s Sudhakar Gangane was defeated while the others emerged victorious. The unexpected outcome has proved to be a setback to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The other winners include the Congress’s Shivajirao Deshmukh, who is chairman of the legislative council, Chandrakant Chhajed, Jagatsingh Patil, Sanjay Patil and Hemant Taakle, Shiv Sena’s Neelam Gorhe and Kiran Pawaskar and BJP’s Vinod Tawde and Pandurang Phundkar.
Prior to elections, there was intense speculation that Sena’s Pawaskar would not be able to make it with the presence of an extra candidate for the nine seats. However, his victory has come as a morale booster for the party’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray.