In what could turn out to be a serious blow, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lost three of the four Council seats that went to the polls on Monday.
Only its candidate Niranjan Davkhare in Konkan Graduates constituency was able to win a seat.
Making matters worse for the party, its candidates had to face defeat at the hands of its alliance partner Shiv Sena in two seats: Mumbai Graduates constituency and Nasik Teachers constituency. The Sena has already announced its decision to go solo in all polls.
The Council poll was held as the terms of sitting members — Deepak Sawant of the Sena (Mumbai Graduates), Kapil Patil of the Lok Bharati Party (Mumbai Teachers), Niranjan Davkhare of the BJP (Konkan Graduates) and Apoorva Hire, an independent (Nashik Teachers) — are ending on July 7.
In Mumbai Graduates constituency, one of the strongholds of the Sena, its candidate Vilas Potnis defeated BJP’s Amit Mehta. The party was hoping to cash in on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s image among graduate voters.
In Mumbai Teachers’ constituency, sitting MLC Kapil Patil recorded a hat-trick of victories by defeating the Sena and the BJP candidates. Mr. Patil was backed by the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. Mr. Patil, who had locked horns with Minister Vinod Tawde, said, “The ruling party attempted to lure voters with money and tried to pressurise using might. I am thankful that Mumbai’s teachers chose to stand with me and reward my hard work.”
Mr. Patil heads the State unit of former JDU leader Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal. In Nasik Teachers constituency, Sena candidate Kishor Darade beat Sandip Bedse from the NCP.