Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance comprising of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP faced a humiliating defeat in the Maharashtra MLC polls, with BJP winning 4 out of 6 seats. Shiv Sena’s Sunil Shinde, Congress' Satej Patil and BJP’s Rajhans Singh and Amrish Patel were elected unopposed, a direct face-off between MVA and BJP ensued in Nagpur and Akola-Buldhana-Washim that went to the polls on December 10.
BJP had fielded Chandrashekhar Bawankule who served as the Energy Minister in the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led government from Nagpur. As per the first-preference vote count, Chandrashekhar Bawankule secured 362 votes as against 186 votes of Mangesh Deshmukh, an MVA back candidate . In Akola-Buldhana-Washim, BJP's Vasant Khandelwal beat Shiv Sena's Gopikishan Bajoria by 109 votes.
Reacting to this win, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis remarked, "Today, I am very happy that my associate Chandrashekhar Bawankule has secured a big win. In fact, I am feeling happier at the victory of Chandrashekhar Bawankule than my own election victory. This victory is a slap on MVA. Similarly, Vasant Khandelwal in Akola has won a decisive victory there. If you see the MLC polls, BJP has won 4 out of 6 seats. This win has proven wrong the calculation that MVA, i.e three parties coming together will win any kind of contest. The people of Maharashtra are with BJP and we will continue to get their blessings in the future too."
