By In a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party in western Maharashtra, NCP candidate Arun Lad defeated BJP candidate Sangram Deshmukh by around 49,000 votes in the Pune Graduate constituency of state legislative council.
The BJP had won the seat in previous two elections with state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil contesting. Patil got elected to state assembly in 2019 from Kothrud assembly constituency in Pune city.
Lad, supported by Congress and Shiv Sena who are part of the ruling alliance, was leading since the start of counting which got over today morning.
Lad received 1,22,145 votes where as the nearest contestant Deshmukh got 73,321.There were total of 62 candidates in the fray.
With the counting of votes on, Congress candidate Jayant Asgaonkar was leading with BJP supported Jitendra Pawar and sitting Independent legislator Dattatraya Sawant giving him a tough fight.
While increasing its tally in legislative council, these results have strengthen the ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in western Maharashtra. The polls assume significance as this was the first election after the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance came to power in the state last year defeating BJP.
