Prithviraj Chavan To Amit Thackeray: Major Upsets In Maharashtra Elections

The Maharashtra polls threw surprises that even the winning Mahayuti alliance did not expect but also delivered some major upsets. 

Mahayuti alliance consisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party swept 210 of the 288 assembly seats while restricting the Maha Vikas Aghadi to 46.

While some big names entering the poll fray did not fare well some new and debutant contestants left party top guns to bite the dust. 

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, former cabinet minister Rajesh Tope, and Congress veteran Balasaheb Thorat were some of the bigwigs who had to wrest power after a long spell in power. 

Among debutant contestants, Raj Thackeray’s son and MNS leader Amit Thackeray failed to secure his seat in the Maharashtra assembly, as did NCP(SCP)’s Fahad Ahmed. 

Here are some of the major upsets of the Maharashtra assembly polls. 

1. Prithviraj Chavan: The former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress leader was defeated by BJP’s Atul Bhosale from Karad South constituency by nearly 40,000 votes. The Congress veteran received 1,00,150 votes while Bhosale polled 1,39,505 votes.

2. Balasaheb Thorat: Another Congress veteran Balasaheb Thorat, was handed a shocking defeat in Sangamner by debutant Amol Khatal of BJP. Khatal, who was a political unknown ran an internet cafe and beat Thorat with a margin of 10,560 votes. 

3. Rajesh Tope: Shiv Sena’s Hikmat Udhan breached the sitting MLA and former cabinet minister Rajesh Tope’s stronghold of Ghansawangi seat. Tope had represented the seat for consecutive three terms. 

4. Dhiraj Deshmukh: Incumbent Congress legislator from Latur rural and youngest son of late CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, Dhiraj Deshmukh lost to MLC Ramesh Karad of the the BJP. 

5. Kunal Patil: Another Congress bigwig who was handed over a defeat by a debutant. Patil lost to BJP’s Raghavendra Bhadane-Patil with a margin of 66,000 votes. 

6. Amit Thackeray: Political heir to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Amit lost his debut polls to Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Mahesh Baliram Sawant by 17,151 votes from Mahim seat. 

7. Fahad Ahmed: A political activist who made his electoral debut on an NCP(SCP) ticket, Fahad Ahmad lost to NCP candidate Sana Malik in a closely contested battle. While he maintained a lead in the beginning but ultimately lost with a margin of 3,378 votes from Anushakti Nagar.