MUMBAI, June 18: The outcome of the biennial elections to 10 Legislative Council seats brought some cheer to the demoralised Congress camp as all the official candidates as well as those supported by it including Pawar's close aide Arun Mehta were declared elected.In fact, no party ended up being the loser as all official candidates were declared elected. While the Congress and the Shiv Sena had fielded two candidates each, the BJP had nominated three and the Progressive Democratic Front and the Bahujan Mahasangh, with the support of Congress, had nominated one candidate each.
Transport Minister Diwakar Raote, Minister of State for Cooperation Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil, Minister of State for Social Welfare Bhai Girkar, MPCC president Ranjit Deshmukh, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council N S Pharande, Shiv Sena's Vijay Vadettiwar and Bahujan Mahasangh nominee Makhram Pawar were elected in the first round, while Congress spokesman Vasant Chavan, Janata Dal's Gangadhar Patne and Independent candidateArun Mehta were elected in the second round of the counting.
Mohite-Patil polled the highest number of 41 votes, followed by Pharande (34), Raote and Girkar (30 each), Vijay Vadettiwar (28), Ranjit Deshmukh and Makhram Pawar (27 each), Vasant Chavan and Arun Mehta (22 each) and Patne (18).
Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, who was supported by the Shiv Sena, lost the election, polling just nine votes. Kanhaiyalal Gidwani's candidature had sparked a row between the alliance partners with the Bharatiya Janata Party strongly opposing his nomination right from the beginning, saying it would have an adverse effect on the prospects of Bharatiya Janata Party nominees.
Finally, at a joint meeting of the BJP and Shiv Sena on Wednesday night, Thackeray declared that Gidwani would not be the official nominee. However, the Sena chief granted him the liberty to contest with the support of the Independent nominees.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
