Blame game erupts in Mahayuti after it secures only two of the five seats in Maharashtra MLC elections; MVA wins 3 constituencies

Mumbai/Pune/Nagpur: Knives were out within Mahayuti after the governing coalition managed to bag only two of the five seats in the MLC elections in Maharashtra, while MVA secured three.

The wins for the opposition bloc were touted as a big turnaround after the 2024 assembly poll drubbing.

BJP contested three seats but managed to bag only one.

Shiv Sena fought from two and won one.

NCP failed to even open its account.

The biggest embarrassment for BJP was in Nagpur—CM Devendra Fadnavis’s home turf and RSS’s citadel—where its loss seemed to be a result of an internal rift within the party. Congress scored its sole win there from polls in three states, when its candidate, Abhijit Wanjarri, secured a second consecutive term and defeated BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes in a nail-biting finish that went beyond 41 hours of counting.

Within hours of the results, a blame game erupted in Mahayuti, with BJP and Sena accusing each other of failing to support allies and refusing to rein in rebels in the fray.

In the run-up to the polls, the Pune seats became a bone of contention in Mahayuti. BJP decided to contest both graduates and teachers constituencies despite Sena staking its claim to them. Instead of backing BJP, Sena supported rebels from its own party.

After deliberations, Sena rebel Mangesh Chivte withdrew from the graduates contest, while another, Sachin Sanap, continued to challenge BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade. Although Gawade managed to snatch a victory, BJP on Thursday expressed disappointment over Sena’s stand.

State cabinet minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule from BJP said senior alliance members would review the results and “track down who played spoilsport”, while party spokesperson Navnath Ban said Sena failed to uphold the alliance’s principles by refusing to cooperate with BJP and NCP. “Mahayuti, otherwise, would have won all five MLC seats,” he asserted.

State BJP vice-president Keshav Upadhye said while there was a need for introspection, he blamed allies for his party’s defeat. “The results are not proof of the opposition’s success but evidence of the deeds of some ‘well-wishers’ within Mahayuti,” he posted.

Sanjay Kute, BJP MLA, said BJP had worked sincerely for Shiv Sena’s Amravati graduate constituency candidate, Kiran Sarnaik, who won. “We expelled all those who stood as rebels against the Sena candidate. On the other hand, Sena is yet to expel its rebel candidate, Shrikant Deshpande. BJP worked closely with Sena in Amravati to ensure its victory,” he said.

In the Aurangabad graduates constituency, the two NCP factions were directly pitted against each other, but NCP got no support from Sena despite it having a strong presence in the Marathwada region. Senior Sena functionary Abdul Sattar acknowledged that he backed the NCP (SP) candidate, Pratapsinh Patil, instead of Satish Chavan from NCP, but criticised NCP for having nominated Chavan in the first place and asked the party to introspect. “In previous elections, our party workers supported the Mahayuti candidate. However, this time, the candidate selection was wrong. So, we did not campaign for him,” he said.

A BJP functionary said in Pune, Sena workers openly campaigned against BJP nominee Smita Jadhav in the graduates constituency. “Had Mahayuti contested unitedly, we would have won all five seats.” Ravindra Dhangekar, Pune Sena chief and former MLA, hit back, calling the results a reality check for BJP. “BJP should stop taking its alliance partners for granted,” he said.

The biggest setback for BJP came in its stronghold of Nagpur. The outcome put the party’s candidate selection under scrutiny. Former MLC Anil Sole, a Gadkari confidant who was denied a ticket, entered the fray as an Independent. He agreed to stop campaigning only after Fadnavis visited his home to address the dispute. The extent to which the rebellion affected Kohale’s prospects remains unclear. But more than 15,000 votes were declared invalid, including nearly 9,000 ballots reportedly marked with the number ‘2’ against Kohale, without preferences for the other 37 candidates. The unusually high number prompted questions about whether ballots reflected voter error or dissatisfaction over candidate selection. Kohale said he would appeal against invalid votes.

NCP was restrained in its response to its loss and the lack of support from allies. Party chief Sunetra Pawar said, “Winning and losing are part of every election, but every outcome is a lesson.” Backing party colleague Praful Patel’s call for introspection, NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the results called for an “honest and rigorous self-assessment” by Mahayuti and his own party. He said educated and politically aware voters were moving away from NCP and their views could influence a wider section of the public. He said the alliance must examine where it went wrong and take corrective measures.