"We did our best batting, took their wicket": Eknath Shinde after Mahayuti sweeps Maharashtra MLC polls

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 12 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was exuberant after the Mahayuti sweeped the Legislative Council polls, said that the ruling alliance did their "best batting" and took the Maha Vikas Aghadi's "wicket".
"It's not about googly... we did the best batting and took their wicket...Many challenged us but we had a focused approach. It was our confidence and the work of Mahayuti across the State which resulted in our victory," the Chief Minister told reporters after the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls.
The Shiv Sena leader also claimed that the victory of all their nine candidates in the Legislative Council elections is just a "trailer" and their aim is to break the fake narrative set by the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi during the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, in which the Mahayuti alliance performed poorly in the state.
"The victory of our nine candidates is just the trailer. We need to end the fake narrative set by the Opposition in the State during the Lok Sabha polls," Shinde said.
Thanking all MLAs who have voted for their candidates, especially for the extra votes that they received which cemented their victory in the MLC polls, the Chief Minister said, "I want to thank all those who voted for Mahayuti and those too belonging to the Opposition. Chamatkar hua hai...Not only Mahayuti MLAs voted for us but people of other parties also supported us based on development work done by us. I want to thank them for their votes. This will boost our confidence for upcoming Assembly Polls."
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also thanked all MLAs for showing confidence in the Mahayuti in the Legislative Council polls.
"I want to thank all those MLAs who showed confidence in Mahayuti and it will only boost our confidence in Assembly Polls," Fadnavis said.
Slamming the opposition, the Deputy Chief Minister said that even some of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MLAs have cross-voted for them and this winning spree will continue even in the upcoming Legislative Assembly polls.
"Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shinde, all our nine candidates emerged victorious...Those who said they will make our candidates fall, even their votes have come to us...It is an unprecedented victory and this will continue in Assembly polls," Fadnavis said.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar thanked the five MLAs who supported the Mahayuti alliance and said they should repeat such a performance in the Vidhan Sabha elections as well.
"We had 42 votes and our candidates got 47. We got an additional five votes. Five MLAs supported us, I thank them. When there are elections, allegations are made but I do not think about it. Mahayuti should get such success in the Vidhan Sabha polls as well," Ajit Pawar told reporters after Mahayuti's win.
Thanking all the MLAs, Pawar said, "I want to thank all the MLAs who voted for Mahayuti candidates.. it was well-executed strategy by leaders of Mahayuti (Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde)."
Expressing confidence that the Mahayuti will also put up a similar fight in the upcoming state assembly polls, Pawar said, "Mahayuti will perform in a similar way in the upcoming Assembly Election...We had several meetings with Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Shinde and we decided to solve problems of MLAs...It is a collective effort and success."
Congratulating the Mahayuti alliance for their victory in the MLC election, Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda posted on 'X', "Heartiest congratulations to all the leaders of the NDA for registering this landslide victory in the Maharashtra MLC election. I'm certain that under the guidance of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodiji, you all will contribute significantly to nation-building. Your experience in public service will accelerate our efforts towards advancing both the state and the nation towards the envisioned 'Viksit Maharashtra' and 'Viksit Bharat'."
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that people are upset with the ruling Mahayuti government over inflation, not providing relief to the poor and farmers, and a host of other issues.
On the MLC election result, Maharashtra Congress President said, "The people are angry with this government. The government did not give anything to the poor or the farmers. Inflation is on the rise. The government has looted the treasury," Patole told ANI.
In the Maharashtra Legislative Council election held on Friday, all nine candidates from the Mahayuti alliance won comfortably.
"This success underscores the leadership and strategy of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The Mahayuti's dominance continues. While MVA continues to be in disarray," a release from the ruling Mahayuti alliance said.
Shiv Sena's Bhavna Gawli (secured 24 votes) and Kripal Tumane (secured 25 votes) emerged victorious in the Legislative Council elections. Despite having 46 votes, Shiv Sena candidates received three additional votes, demonstrating the unity among Shiv Sena MLAs and their confidence in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's leadership, the release said.
BJP's Yogesh Tilekar, Pankaja Munde, Amit Gorkhe, Parinay Phuke, and Sadabhau Khot, representing the Mahayuti, each secured 26 votes. From the NCP, Rajesh Whitekar received 23 votes, and Shivajirao Garje obtained 24 votes, gaining five additional votes from their initial 42.
The Congress, with 32 votes, saw Pragya Satav garner 25, suggesting a split in seven first-choice votes, highlighting the Mahavikas Aghadi's failure. The NCP Sharad Pawar group nominated Shekap candidate Jayant Patil, who lost, while Milind Narvekar from the Sena UBT group won with 23 votes. Narvekar's victory came with support from the second panel.
According to the release, contrary to reports suggesting that the UBT group would break Mahayuti MLAs, the Maharashtra Legislative Council results proved the resilience of the Mahayuti alliance. The split of seven Congress votes revealed the cracks within Maha Vikas Aghadi, busting Sena UBT's claims, it added.
The Secretary of the Legislative Secretariat and Election Returning Officer Jitendra Bhole announced that Pankaja Gopinathrao Munde, Yogesh Kundlik Tilekar, Parinay Ramesh Phuke, Amit Ganpat Gorkhe, Pragya Rajeev Satav, Kripal Hirabai Balaji Tumane, Bhavana Pundalikrao Gawli, Shivajirao Yashwant Garje, Rajesh Uttamrao Vitekar, Sadabhau Ramchandra Khot and Milind Keshav Narvekar have won the MLC polls.
The secretary further stated that Legislative Council Member Manisha Shyamsunder Kayande, Vijay Vitthal Girkar, Abdullah Khan A Latif Khan Durrani, Neela Madhukar Naik, Adv. Anil Dattatraya Parab, Ramesh Narayan Patil, Ramrao Balajirao Patil, Wajahat Mirza Ather Mirza, Dr. Pragya Rajiv Satav , Mahadev Jagannath Jankar and Jayant Prabhakar Patil will be retiring from the Legislative Council on July 27.
Meanwhile, supporters of Pankaja Munde, the daughter of late senior leader Gopinath Munde, who was fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated after her victory.
"I have won the MLC election. This has filled our party workers with josh. I am happy. We think of this as preparation for Assembly elections," BJP's Pankaja Munde told ANI after her win in the Maharashtra MLC election.
"Milind Narvekar has been elected and we are very happy...," Shiv Sena UBT leader Arvind Sawant said while Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai said, "We are very happy. Despite all the planning, our votes remained intact."
Slamming the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Maharashtra Minister and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, "All 9 Mahayuti candidates were elected. We are very happy. MVA's arrogance has been wiped off."
The success of the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, registered a win after pulling out a poor performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra Legislative polls are largely seen as a semi-final ahead of the state assembly elections. While the BJP fielded five candidates, the NCP and the Shiv Sena fielded two each. All nine of their candidates won the poll. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP fielded three candidates.
According to the 2019 Assembly poll data, the BJP has 105 MLAs in a House of 288 seats. The combined Shiv Sena had 56 MLAs and the combined NCP had 54 MLAs. Following the split in the NCP and the Sena, the Shinde Sena has 37 MLAs while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has 39 MLAs.