Maharashtra state Congress chief Nana Patole was leading by a thin margin in the Sakoli Vidhan Sabha seat, the Election Commission website showed on Saturday. The Congress veteran was ahead of BJP's Avinash Anandrao Brahmankar by only 208 seats from the seat, the ECI website showed.
It was the 28th and final round of counting that was progressing in Sakoli and Patole's lead was a good sign for the MVA constituent.
MAHARASHTRA'S SAKOLI EAST: CHECK THE RESULT HERE
The Congress was stunned as its three tall leaders in the state, Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat and Prithiviraj Chavan, were trailing till late evening. While the Mahayuti swept the Assembly polls by winning over 220 seats, Patole's result is just a matter of pride for the Congress, who was decimated in the state following the results.
Thorat was humbled by a margin of 10,560 votes by Shiv Sena-Shinde's Amol Dhondiba Khatal while Chavan lost the Karad South seat to BJP's A Suresh Bhosale by 39,355 votes.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Maharashtra assembly poll results are unbelievable. Against most predictions of a close race between the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi and the ruling Mahayuti, the results have been spectacularly lopsided with the BJP itself coming close to getting a majority in the 288-member assembly.
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The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance on Saturday retained power in Maharashtra, maintaining sway over 230 of the 288 assembly seats. After the certainty of the poll outcome, the focus has now shifted to BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, the architect of his party's stunning victory. There is already speculation that the swearing-in of the new CM may take place as early as Monday and that too in the same venue, the sprawling Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai, where Fadnavis was sworn in as the CM 10 years ago.
As per the latest figures from the Election Commission, the BJP has so far won 123 seats and is leading in 9, the Shiv Sena won 54 and is ahead in 3 seats, while the NCP has won 40 and is leading in 1 seat.
In the MVA, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidates won 10 seats, Congress won 12 and its candidates were leading in 4 seats, while Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 20 seats.