During the Rajya Sabha elections, there was a political upheaval in Maharashtra. After the voting on Friday, the political atmosphere was heated and the results were declared on Saturday, in which the BJP won the maximum three seats. Shiv Sena, part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, suffered a major setback and only Sanjay Raut could win the Rajya Sabha elections. At the same time, the vote of a Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande was declared invalid, due to which the war of words between BJP and Shiv Sena intensified.
Seven candidates were in the fray for six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra. During the voting, the Central Election Commission declared the vote of Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande illegal on the objection of BJP. The counting of votes was also delayed due to the BJP alleging violation of rules.
The voting, which ended at 3.30 pm on Friday, was halted after five members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi as well as the BJP were accused of violating the model code of conduct and the matter reached the Election Commission. The commission, after seeing the recorded footage, declared Suhas Kande’s vote invalid.
In a major setback to Shiv Sena, BJP won three seats, including Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. Shiv Sena had fielded two candidates but only Sanjay Raut could register victory in the Rajya Sabha elections and Sanjay Pawar had to face defeat. At the same time, Imran Pratapgarhi of Congress also won, besides NCP leader Praful Patel also won his election.
Suhas Kande, 43, MLA from Nandgaon in Nashik district, had come into limelight during an altercation with senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal. Kande had also approached the Bombay High Court against Bhujbal. Once Kande had several cases registered against him and even proceedings were initiated against him by the Nashik Police in the mid-2000s. Kande started his political innings with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
Once seen as close to Bhujbal, Kande later switched sides and joined the Shiv Sena. In Nandgaon, he contested against Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj in the 2009 assembly elections but he did not get success. However, in 2014, he shocked the Bhujbal family by defeating Pankaj Bhujbal by 13,889 votes.