BJP hopeful of 'upset wins' in Maharashtra council polls

MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJP president Raosaheb Danve today expressed confidence that his party would score upset wins in the Legislative Council elections in Solapur, Kolhapur and Ahmednagar local civic body constituencies.

The biennial elections to seven seats, for which local corporators were the electors, were held on December 27. The votes would be counted tomorrow.

"The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance expects upset wins in Solapur, Kolhapur and Ahmednagar. In Mumbai, Sena will retain its seat," Danve said here.

The elections were held for MLCs from local body constituencies at Mumbai (two seats), Ahmednagar, Dhule-Nandurbar, Akola-Washim-Buldhana, Solapur and Kolhapur.

Of the two seats in Mumbai, the sitting Congress MLC Ashok alias Bhai Jagtap may have hard time retaining his seat.

Jagtap is facing a stiff challenge from former Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) leader and independent candidate Prasad Lad, amid reports that a faction of some 20 Congress corporators cross-voted.

In the second constituency in Mumbai, Shiv Sena's sitting MLC and state environment minister Ramdas Kadam may have a smooth sailing as the Sena and BJP together have 119 corporators in the house of 230 members (of which 201 actually cast their vote on December 27, the remaining abstained).

In Nagpur, BJP's Girish Vyas would be declared elected unopposed as there was no rival in the fray.

In Ahmednagar, sitting NCP MLC Arun Jagtap is locked in a four-cornered contest with Congress's Jayant Sasane who filed the nomination as a rebel candidate, Shiv Sena's Shashikant Gade and the independent candidate Machindra Supekar.

In Dhule-Nandurbar, sitting Congress MLC Amrishbhai Patel is facing the challenge from BJP's Dr Shashikant Wani. Sitting NCP MLC Dipakbaba Salunkhe is in a direct contest with independent candidate Prashant Paricharak in Solapur.

In Kolhapur, the sitting MLC Mahadevrao Mahadik of Congress is pitted against the party's official candidate and former minister Satej Patil.

In Akola-Washim-Buldhana, there is a straight contest between sitting Sena MLC Gopikisan Bajoriya and NCP's Ravindra Sapkal.