BJP’s strategy to get 10 MVA votes worked in stumping Shiv Sena

The elections for the six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra took place on Friday. The fiercely contested sixth seat saw BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik defeating Sena’s Sanjay Pawar. All three BJP candidates – Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik — won. As against the required quota of 41 votes to win a seat, Goyal polled 48 votes, Bonde 48 and Mahadik got 41 votes.

While the BJP has 106 MLAs in the state Assembly, the total votes it polled for its three candidates added up to 123 – it managed to get the support of 17 additional MLAs representing smaller parties and Independents. Among these 17 MLAs, only seven were associated with the BJP. The remaining 10 who voted in favour of BJP candidates belonged to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) camp.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, said, “The Rajya Sabha polls has exposed the deep cracks within the MVA. The unrest and anger among the MLAs against MVA manifested in the voting pattern. The massive support that BJP got shows that smaller parties and Independents no longer trust the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.” Party MLA Ashish Shelar added, “The BJP with 106 seats in the Assembly polled 123 votes. This shows that smaller parties and allies of MVA have preferred BJP.”

The BJP, to ensure its numbers on voting day, had airlifted ailing MLA Mumbai Tilak from Pune. It also brought in another ailing MLA, Laxman Jagtap (Pimpri-Chinchwad), by road. Courts disallowing NCPs MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh – in jail in connection two separate cases of money laundering – also came as good news for the BJP. Further, the Election Commission decided to treat the vote cast by Shiv Sena’s Suhas Kande as invalid.

What caught MVA napping was Fadnavis team’s strategy in allocating preferential votes so that its third candidate got an edge.

The BJP had allocated 48 votes each to its first candidate Goyal and second candidate Bonde against the required quota of 41 votes. Therefore, after first round of voting, both candidates were declared the winners. However, the surplus 14 votes that were transferred to the third candidate, Mahadik, was the highest among all parties.

In the first round of voting, Mahadik got only 27 votes. With 14 additional votes, his tally went up to 41. In comparison, Sena’s Sanjay Pawar got only 33 votes.

While NCP’s Praful Patel got 43 votes, Congress’s Imran Pratapgarhi got 44, Sanjay Raut 41 and Sanjay Pawar 33 votes. In all, MVA got 161 votes as against its voting strength of 149 – Congress 44, Shiv Sena 54 and NCP’s 51 votes. This shows MVA received 12 votes from Independents and smaller parties.

After the results were declared, NCP president Sharad Pawar said, “Fadnavis succeeded in taking away votes of Independent MLAs from rival camps. He worked to bring people closer to him by using various means and succeeded.”

Senior NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said Pawar’s remarks should be perceived as an advise by the MVA. “It is a fact that BJP worked on its strategy, focusing on vote allocation and transfer, which worked to its advantage. We lacked in strategising… The MVA also should reflect on why its allies have voted for the BJP.”

However, Congress chief Nana Patole wondered why was Pawar heaping praise on Fadnavis. “What should we make of Pawar’s praise of Fadnavis?” he asked.

Newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut from the Sena, added, “Congress and NCP had secured their candidates with surplus votes. Instead, it should have passed on the extra votes to to Sena’s quota.” Raut, who just managed to win with 41 votes, said, “At least six votes from our allies and Independents went to the BJP.”

Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which has three MLAs, objected to Sena’s charge of cross-voting. BVA president Hitendra Thakur said, “We are not bound to show our votes to anybody. Yes, we had options of preferential votes and accordingly, voted in favour of candidates across parties, including Goyal, Patel, Pratapgarhi and Raut among others.”

Bacchu Kadu of Prahar Janashakti Party said, “We are neither horses nor have betrayed anybody. The Sena should mend its own fences instead of accusing smaller parties… We won’t disclose whom our two MLAs voted for.”

While AIMIM’s two MLAs voted for Congress, the lone MNS MLA voted for BJP. The CPI(M) vote was pledged to the MVA.

In the state Assembly with 288 members, the smaller parties and Independents constitute 29 votes.

Anant Kalse, former principal secretary (Legislature), “During the counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections, the ballot papers are counted and a list of candidates and their votes is prepared in a descending order. No candidate for the sixth position could secure the mandatory quota of 41 votes, prompting the election officials to go for the counting of second preferential votes.”

“Here, the BJP outsmarted the MVA constituents. Not every candidate’s surplus votes are counted, but second preferential votes of top two candidates are taken into consideration. With Goyal and Bonde winning 48 votes each, they became the top two candidates in this elections. It seems BJP has ensured that all MLAs who voted for Goyal or Bonde, gave their second preferential vote to its third candidate Mahadik,” he added.

Sena’s second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, received 33 votes of first preference, but no candidate of MVA could make it to the top two list. Thus, the surplus votes of NCP and Congress could not be transferred to their ally and the fourth candidate of the MVA, said Kalse. “It needs a very in-depth understanding of the election process to make such moves and ensure the victory of third candidate despite not having sufficient votes in hand,” he added.