The Hindu : National : Congress wins three Maharashtra Council seats

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Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004

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Congress wins three Maharashtra Council seats

By Arunkumar Bhatt

MUMBAI, JUNE 21. The Congress could get its three candidates elected in the poll for 10 seats to the Maharashtra Legislative Council held here today but 11 of the party MLAs cross-voted.

There were 11 candidates in the fray and it was expected that the Congress would have to fight it out with the Peasants and Workers Party, which had fielded the 11th candidate though the party has only five members in the Assembly, the electoral college.

The PWP nominee, S.V. Jadhav, secured 11 first preference votes, giving anxious moments to the Congress candidate, Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil, a brother of the Deputy Chief Minister, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil (NCP), who could come through only in the second round. Another Congressman, Muzaffar Hussein, had to wait till the fourth round. Prof. Jadhav finally lost.

The Maharashtra Congress general secretary, Sanjay Dutt, won in the first round. The Congress had sent two observers, P.J. Kurian and Harikesh Bahadur, to help the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, close the ranks since his political prestige was on the line.

However, the cross-voting by 11 MLAs is a serious matter, said the State Congress president, Ranjit Deshmukh, and the party would inquire into it.

Other winners were Shivajirao Patil and Manda Mhatre of the NCP, Divakar Raote, Anil Parab and Suresh Jethalia of the Shiv Sena, and Prakash Shendge and Navnath Awahad of the BJP.

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