MVA wins 3 of 6 seats in Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, leads on 1

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], December 4 (ANI): Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates Arun Lad, Satish Chavan and Abhijit Wanjarri on Friday won Pune, Aurungabad and Nagpur Graduate constituencies in the state Legislative Council elections.
Jayant Asgaonkar of Maha Vikas Aghadi was leading from Pune Teachers constituency till the last report came.
Lad defeated National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Sangram Deshmukh by over 48,800 votes in the Pune graduate constituency, held by BJP state president Chandrakant Patil for the last two consecutive terms.
"Heartfelt gratitude to all the voters who participated in this electoral process. I am obliged for your wholehearted support. I promise I will do my best to ensure transparency in development," Lad said in a tweet on Friday.
Chavan won the Graduate constituency from Aurangabad with a margin of 57,895 votes, defeating BJP's Shirish Boralkar.
On the other hand, BJP's Amrish Patel won the Local Body's constituency in Dhule-Nandurbar, while an Independent candidate was leading in the sixth seat.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said the BJP's claim of change of government after the elections has been proven wrong.
"The results certify the work done by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the past one year. The BJP needs to understand the truth. Their claim about a change of government after the elections has been proven hollow," said Malik of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the ruling alliance with the Shiv Sena and Congress.
The workers of the NCP also started celebrating the victory at their party office in Mumbai. "People have shown their confidence, love and faith in the Maha Vikash Aghadi and its government," said NCP MP Supriya Sule.
Meanwhile, an upset BJP said the results of the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls are not as per expectations. "We were expecting more seats but won only one. We miscalculated the combined power of the three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress)," former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.
The elections were held on December 1 for the six seats -- three Graduates' constituencies (Aurangabad, Pune and Nagpur), two Teachers' constituencies (Pune and Amravati), and one Local Bodies' constituency in Dhule-Nandurbar. (ANI)