Maharashtra MLC polls: NCP (SP) winner claims voters left chits reading 'Satish bro, it's over' in ballot boxes

Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Pratapsinh Patil who defeated sitting MLC Satish Chavan in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections said on Thursday that voters express their discontent when they feel they are being taken for grantedPatil claimed that some voters left handwritten messages inside ballot boxes to convey their anger One of the chits reportedly read ldquoSatish Chavan bro it is done now the game is overrdquoPatil defeated Chavan by 18124 votes in the Aurangabad Graduatesrsquo constituency after a prolonged counting process According to an official release Patil secured 85876 votes while Chavan received 67752 votes after the counting of secondpreference votesNeither candidate secured the required quota of 88558 votes However Patil emerged victorious after the counting process which involved the transfer of secondpreference votesPatil says voters were taken for grantedSpeaking to reporters after his victory Patil thanked graduates and Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA leaders for supporting his campaign He said he had only 12 to 15 days to campaign after his candidature was announced but managed to visit 76 talukas and present his vision for the next six yearsI thank the graduates and MVA leaders who fought this election with full strength After my candidature was announced I had just 1215 days to campaign I visited 76 talukas and presented my vision for the next six years The voters therefore voted for me I had earlier said that when voters are taken for granted they simply wait for the next voting date Patil saidHe said leaders and workers of the MVA comprising the NCP SP Congress and Shiv Sena UBT had worked wholeheartedly during the electionChits in ballot boxes carry message for ChavanPatil said voters had used handwritten messages to express their dissatisfaction with the sitting MLC Asked about the contents of the notes he said several chits had been found but declined to elaborate on all of themThere are many chits but I cannot say much about them here One chit read Satish Chavan bro it is done now the game is overThe claim about the messages was made by Patil after his victory The contents of the chits were not independently verified in the reports availableShiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar backed PatilPatil also acknowledged the support extended by Shiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar who had openly backed him despite his party deciding to support Chavan in the election The Shiv Sena is led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath ShindeAsked about Sattarrsquos support Patil said a candidatersquos ability to work for the constituency should take precedence over political affiliationsIn a democracy if a candidate has the ability to work for the constituency and someone supports that candidate it should be welcomed This will definitely strengthen democracy An invisible power helped me a lot because the voters were taken for grantedPatil describes contest with Shiv Sena UBT as friendly fightThe Aurangabad Graduatesrsquo constituency also witnessed a contest between MVA allies with Shiv Sena UBT fielding Dilip Ghuge against Patil Asked about the presence of a candidate from an alliance partner Patil described it as a friendly fightHe said senior leaders had tried until the last moment to resolve the differences but failed to reach an agreementFrom day one however there was a photograph of Uddhav Thackeray on our posters and in our manifesto The graduates saw the merit and voted accordingly My margin would have been bigger had the votes not been divided he saidAccording to the official release independent candidate Ravindra Sable Patil secured 19897 votes while Ghuge polled 8489 votesMVA wins three of five Maharashtra MLC seatsThe MVA won three of the five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats contested in the elections while the ruling Mahayuti secured two The Congress retained the Nagpur Graduatesrsquo constituency while the NCP SP won the Pune and Aurangabad Graduatesrsquo seats The BJP won the Pune Teachersrsquo constituency and the Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena secured the Amravati Teachersrsquo seatPolling for the Pune Graduatesrsquo Nagpur Graduatesrsquo Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduatesrsquo Pune Teachersrsquo and Amravati Teachersrsquo constituencies took place on October 23 Officials reported an overall voter turnout of 7296 per cent with the results declared on October 28 and 29With inputs from PTI