In a major embarrassment to the Congress, the party&China Compostable PLA Straws Factory39;s Ajay Maken lost to media baron Kartikeya Sharma, an independent backed by the BJP, in Haryana, while in a major setback to the Maharashtra’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the BJP won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state.- Sharad Pawar, NCP chief“Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. In Maharashtra, the counting got delayed as the BJP and its Opposition filed complaints and counter complaints after which the vote of Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande was declared invalid. After the BJP’s requirement was deducted, the remaining 1. Batra. General secretary Randeep Surjewala who is from Haryana was given a safe seat in Rajasthan while Maken was made to fight it out.Maken’s loss will have serious ramifications not only in Haryana Congress but also in AICC as he is seen to be close to senior leader Rahul Gandhi.34. The NCP’s Praful Patel and Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi also won the fiercely-fought elections.66 votes while Maken remained at 29. He scraped through with 29. Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Lake had passed away last month.In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, 31 votes were required to win. Maken polled 29 votes while Sharma polled 28.BJP “was cunning in holding up the counting and getting one vote declared invalid.After the stunning setback, Congress leaders admitted shortcomings in coordination the in the ruling alliance.
The BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar secured 31 votes. At the end of the second round of counting of votes, Dhananjay Mahadik pulled off a victory with 41 votes to Pawar’s 33.B.Insiders claimed party MLA Kiran Chaudhary’s vote was declared invalid, a charge she vehemently denied.Kuldeep BishnoiCongress MLA who defied party, suspendedDevendra Fadnavis succeeded in working the miracle of weaning away independent MLAs from rival camps using different means.MaharashtraUnion minister Piyush Goyal and former state minister Anil Bonde of BJP, NCP’s Praful Patel, Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut won. Its second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, lost.In this backdrop, the Sena, which had fielded two candidates managed to only get Sanjay Raut elected. One MLA cross-voted, one vote disqualified. The strength was reduced 88 as an independent MLA abstained and one vote was declared invalid and the cut-off fell to 29. Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat told reporters in Vidhan Bhavan that it is a matter of study as to what went wrong. The matter went upto the Election Commission of India who only allowed voting post midnight and one vote was declared invalid.The other BJP winners were Union minister Piyush Goyal and former state minister Anil Bonde.”
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