Maharashtra: Few stalwarts receive jolt in LS election 

Maharashtra: Few stalwarts receive jolt in LS election 

Pune: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a clean sweep across the country, a few stalwarts received a jolt in the 17th Lok Sabha elections. Ashok Chavan was defeated in his bastion Nanded. Similarly, 
Dr Sujay Vikhe Patil won the Ahmednagar LS with a huge margin. At Hatkangale, farmers' crusader Raju Shetti suffered a defeat. Here's the constituency wise analysis.

Nanded
The triangular fight in Nanded which had generated huge curiosity across the country as Bharatiya Janata Party gave candidature to Pratap Patil Chikhalikar against former chief minister Ashok Chavan. However, the fight got interesting as Vanchit Vikas Agahadi's (VVA) Prof. Yashpal Binge divided the traditional vote bank. Chavan, who had banked on the votes from backward classes, Muslims etc, was defeated as the votes were divided with VVA. All candidates conducted a fierce campaign in rural and urban areas, with allegations and counter allegations making newspaper headlines. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, VVA's Prakash Ambedkar, MIMI MP Asauddin Owasi, Samajwadi Party's Abu Azmi conducted rallies in Nanded. The voters showed a positivity while voting and 66 per cent of voting was recorded from the area. 

Although, Chavan and Chikhalikar had contested elections on several occasion earlier, for the first time, they contested against each other.

Chavan received 4,31,584 votes, while Chikhalikar received 4,74,410 votes. Chikhalikar led by 42,826 votes.

Ahmednagar
Dr Sujay Vikhe Patil won the prestigious Ahmednagar seat by a huge margin. The election which had become the talk of the town after Congress Party leader Balasaheb Thorat ensured that Dr Sujay did not get ticket from the party. Similarly, Nationalist Congress Party remained adamant about not leaving the seat to Congress. This led Dr Sujay joining the BJP and winning the seat with a huge margin. The win not only had created an opportunity for Vikhe Patil to claim a ministerial post at the Centre but also had created void among the Congress as Congress supremo had immense faith in Thorat who apparently failed in proving it. 

There were rumors that BJP's former MP Dilip Gandhi who was denied the ticket will work against Dr Sujay and similarly, farmers and middle class would vote against him. Apparently, NCP announced their candidate Sangram Jagtap very late thus reducing the number of their days for campaigning. NCP Chief Sharad Pawar had made this contest a prestige issue.

After the win, Dr Sujay thanked the party members and dedicated his win to his grandfather Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. He also thanked the Congress-NCP who dissuaded him and criticised his move. He said, “I thank Congress for denying me the ticket. This helped me to enter into a better party. Interestingly, PM Narendra Modi had conducted rally in Nagar in support of Dr Sujay. 

Dr Sujay received 6,93,665 votes while Sangram received 4,17,955 votes. Dr Sujay took a lead by 2,75,710 votes. 

Kolhapur
Shiv Sena candidate Prof. Sanjay Mandlik defeated Nationalist Congress Party candidate Dhananjay Mahadik in Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency, similarly Shiv Sena candidate at Hatkangle LS constituency Dharyashil Mane become the 'giant killer', by defeating MP Raju Shetti. 

Shiv Sena and BJP were successful in wiping out Congres-NCP from Kolhapur and Sangli. There was a strong 'Anti-Mahadik, factor working in the constituency. Similarly, Satej Patil used his team to work for Mandlik which ensured a smooth victory. At Hatkangale, the Bahujan Samaj was successful in binding the leaders from district and taluka level which ensured Mane's win. 

The counting began at 8 am and from the first round Mandlik took the lead which continued till the end. However, at Hatkangle though initially Shetti took the lead, Mane made a giant leap and took a huge lead against Shetti. 

Along with BJP, Shiv Sena too opposed Shetti. Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil, Agri Minister Sadabhau Khot and other leaders from the cabinet joined hands against Shetti. It was said that caste factor ruled this constituency. Opposition was successful in breaking the chord between farmers and Shetti. While clean slate, fine oratory helped Mane to become a 'giant killer'. 

Mhada/Solapur
Bharatiya Janata Party candidates have won seats from Solapur and Mhada respectively. Dr Jaisiddheshwar Mahaswami defeated Congress candidate and former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde by 1.5 lakh votes. Dr Mahaswami received 5.18 lakh votes while Shinde received only 3.62 lakh votes. While Vanchit Bahujan Agadhi's Advocate Balasaheb Ambedkar received 1.68 lakh votes and became the third party in the winning fray. As many as 11 candidates were contesting from this constituency while 6,118 voters used 'NOTA'.

In Mhada constituency, BJP candidate Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar won defeating Nationalist Congress Party's candidate Sanjay Shinde.

Nimbalkar received 5.82,705 votes while Shinde received 4,97,778 votes. Vanchit Bahujan Agadhi's Advocate Vijay More received 51.506 votes taking the third position. 

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