Maharashtra: 13 legislators contested Lok Sabha elections, seven won

Mumbai, Jun 5 (PTI) Thirteen legislators from Maharashtra ventured into the recently-held Lok Sabha elections, with seven emerging victorious.

Among the winners, five are from the Congress party, while two were aligned with Shiv Sena under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Interestingly, one of the winning candidates was a state cabinet minister from Sena, shows data.

The five triumphant MLAs from Congress are Kalyan Kale, Pratibha Dhanorkar, Balwant Wankhede, Varsha Gaikwad, and Praniti Shinde. The two MLAs of the ruling Shiv Sena to win the Lok Sabha contest are state minister Sandipan Bhumre, and Ravindra Waikar.

Conversely, the MLAs who bit dust are, BJP's Ram Satpute and Sudhir Mungantiwar, Congress' Ravindra Dhangekar and Vikas Thakre, Shiv Sena's Yamini Jadhav and NCP MLC Shahikant Shinde.

Congress MLA Kalyan Kale clinched the Jalna Lok Sabha seat by defeating incumbent MP and Union Minister of State for Railways, Raosaheb Danve, by a significant margin of 1,09,958 votes. Danve's defeat marked a notable setback for the BJP, given his stronghold over the seat for nearly three decades.

In another key outcome, forest minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar, lost to Congress MLA Pratibha Dhanorkar in the Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency.

Analysts attributed Dhanorkar's advantage partly to her husband's recent passing, a former MP. Mungantiwar's initial reluctance to contest, despite party insistence, added weight to the electoral result.

Another Congress MLA, Balwant Wankhede, defeated incumbent MP Navneet Rana in the Amravati parliamentary constituency. Some BJP leaders had opposed Rana's candidature, although the party leadership stood firm behind her, a party leader said.

Varsha Gaikwad, Congress MLA from Mumbai's Dharavi assembly segment, won the Mumbai North Central seat by defeating BJP candidate and prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam.

In Solapur, incumbent Congress MLA Praniti Shinde, daughter of former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, triumphed against BJP MLA Ram Satpute.

On the other hand, Congress MLAs Ravindra Dhangekar and Vikas Thakre faced resounding defeats from their constituencies Pune and Nagpur, respectively.

Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar clinched victory in Mumbai North West by a razor-thin margin of merely 48 votes by defeating Amol Kirtikar of Shiv Sena (UBT). Notably, Sandipan Bhumare, the incumbent state cabinet minister for rural employment, secured a comfortable win in Aurangabad seat.

Shiv Sena MLA Yamini Jadhav lost from the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat, while NCP (SP) member of the legislative council, Shashikant Shinde, faced a defeat at the hands of BJP's Udayanraje Bhonsle, in Satara Lok Sabha constituency. PTI ND NSK