Mumbai, Oct 29 With the ruling Mahayuti bloc losing all three graduates seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council which went to polls last week, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday claimed the graduates, who voted in the elections, rejected the BJP and its allies and defeated them using ballot papers.
Raut, however, stressed that the alliance dharma was not followed both in the ruling as well as the Opposition camps.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), a constituent of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), failed to win any seat.
Of the five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies of the council which went to the polls on October 23, the Opposition MVA won three, while the BJP-led ruling Mahayuti alliance bagged two.
The Congress won a close contest in the Nagpur graduates constituency, while the its ally NCP (SP) bagged the Pune and Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) graduates seats. The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena won the Pune and Amravati teachers constituencies.
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on social media mocking the Congress for not registering any victory in 28 legislative council seats, Raut said it does not behove a person occupying the PM’s post to make such remarks against the principal Opposition party.
The Rajya Sabha MP said just hours after the PM’s post, trends reversed and the Congress won the Nagpur graduates seat.
Modi mocked the Congress on Wednesday after its dismal show despite the use of paper ballots, a key demand of Opposition parties in their campaign against EVMs.
The BJP-led NDA won 16 of the 28 seats.
Raut said that after the Congress’s victory in Nagpur, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had to delete a post on the council poll results.
“The BJP faced defeat in Nagpur and Varanasi seats. Graduates defeated the BJP in Marathwada, Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha. Educated voters have rejected the BJP,” he claimed.
He said the BJP lost in Maharashtra only because the polls were held using ballot papers.
On allies not backing each other in the council polls, Raut said the alliance dharma was not followed anywhere.
He pointed out that the Amravati teachers constituency should have gone to his party as there was no sitting MLC of any MVA allies.
In Amravati, the Congress had fielded Aditi Pohare. Shiv Sena’s Kiran Sarnaik won the Amravati teachers constituency. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had fielded a candidate in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Marathwada) graduates’ constituency, which was won by its ally NCP (SP).
(PTI News)
