Rajya Sabha Election 2022: Big setback to MVA as BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik defeats Sena's Sanjay Pawar

BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik has defeated Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar to win 6th and final Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra in thrilling contest.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, NCP's Praful Patel, BJP's Piyush Goyal and Anil Bonde and Congress's Imran Pratapgarhi have also won from Maharashtra.

The counting of votes in the Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra began after 1 am Saturday following the Election Commission go-ahead.

The counting was scheduled to start at 5 pm Friday, but it could not be taken up as the BJP approached the Election Commission alleging violation of rules by three MLAs of the state's ruling alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

"The process has started after a wait of eight hours," NCP state president and election in-charge Jayant Patil said.

The ECI took almost eight hours to decide the validity of the votes which were objected upon, said the state minister.

Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik were fielded by the BJP, while the Shiv Sena nominated Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar. The NCP and Congress fielded Praful Patel and Imran Pratapgarhi respectively for the Rajya Sabha election.

Polling was necessitated after the BJP decided to field a third candidate when the number of legislators it has can get it only two seats.

Published on: Saturday, June 11, 2022, 03:58 AM IST