Maharashtra Polls: 7 BJP ministers who suffered shocking defeats

The counting for the Maharashtra elections commenced on Thursday morning. As the trends started pouring in, there were a lot of surprises. Despite the current Election Commission of India trends which indicate that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is set to comfortably form the Government with the former getting more than 100 seats on its own, seven sitting ministers have lost their seats this election. 

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Here are the minsters who received a shock defeat 

Pankaja Munde, Minister for Rural Development, Women & Child Development 

The Parli constituency was always poised to be a contest between the estranged Munde cousins. Pankaja Munde had won the seat twice, first in 2009 when she beat a Congress candidate and then, by defeating Dhananjay Munde of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by 25,895 votes in 2014. However, the latter made an incredible comeback by ensuring a victory margin of 30,701 votes.  

Ram Shinde, Minister for Marketing and Textiles  

The entry of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew Rohit Pawar in Karjat Jamkhed had made it a challenging proposition for Professor Ram Shinde. In 2009, Shinde defeated Congress candidate Deshmukh Keshavrao who received 32,673 votes. This was followed by his victory over Shiv Sena’s Ramesh Bhivrao in the 2014 election. This time, Pawar managed to defeat him by 43,347 votes.  

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Madan Yerawar, Minister of State for Energy  

Yerawar has fought the polls from the Yavatmal constituency since 1999 when he lost the election to Congress’ Kirti Gandhi. Thereafter, he had a revival of fortunes in the next assembly election by beating Gandhi. However, he ended up losing two successive elections before winning the seat in 2014 by a narrow margin. On this occasion, his chances were spoiled by Congress’ Anil Mangulkar.  

Arjun Khotkar, Minister of State for Textile 

Jalna is situated in the centre part of Maharashtra. In 2004, Shiv Sena’s Arjun Khotkar won the Jalna seat with 86,696 votes, the highest number of votes received by any candidate in the past nine elections. Shiv Sena did not field him in the next elections. Khotkar resumed his victory run in the 2014 elections, with a victory margin of 296 votes. Gorantyal Kisanrao, the Congress’s candidate trounced him in the current election. 

Vijay Shivtare, Minister of State for Water Resources and Water Conservation 

Congress’ Sanjay Jagtap ended Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare’s domination on the Purandar constituency by winning the 2019 polls. Shivtare had won both in 2009 as well as the 2014 elections. Kiran Bapu Sonavane of Bahujan Samaj Party was the other important candidate in this seat. 

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Bala Bhegade, Minister of State for Labour, Environment 

Bhegade has had a mixed record from the Maval constituency. Initially, he won in the 2004 elections. However, he regained the seat only in 2014 with the defeat of NCP candidate Dnyanoba Dabhade. In the current elections, he faced a heavy defeat at the hands of NCP’s Sunil Shelke. The latter won by 93,942 votes. 

Anil Bonde, Minister for Agriculture 

Bonde earlier fought the elections from Morshi constituency on a Shiv Sena ticket in both 2004 as well as 2009. He registered a victory in the 2009 assembly elections with a victory over an independent candidate. Just before the 2014 elections, he joined the BJP. Subsequently, he won with 71,611 votes against the NCP’s candidate. In the present election, he was beaten by Devendra Bhuyar of the Swabhimani Paksha.  

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