Shiv Sena, BJP retain seats in Ramtek and Jalgaon; NCP bags Erandol

Nagpur/Jalgaon, Apr 12 (UNI) The Shiv Sena and the BJP retained the Ramtek and Jalgaon Lok Sabha constituencies respectively, but the BJP lost the Erandol seat to the Nationalist Congress Party in the April 9 by-elections, results of which were declared today.

Prakash Jadhav of the Shiv Sena has won the Ramtek Lok Sabha seat defeating his nearest rival Subodh Mohite of the Congress by a margin of 32,572 votes.

In Jalgaon constituency, Mr Haribhau Jawale of the BJP defeated his nearest rival Dr Arjun Bhangale of the Congress by a margin of 25,717 votes.

Vasantrao More of the NCP wrested the Erandol seat from the BJP by defeating Dr B S Patil by a margin of 52,209 votes.

The Ramtek bypolls were necessitated because Subodh Mohite, who was elected in 2004 on a Shiv Sena ticket, had resigned from the party and the House to join the Congress. However, Mr Mohite's changeover did not help the Congress' prospects and the Sena retained the seat with sufficient ease.

The Sena's victory in Ramtek was also facilitated by Congress rebel Ranjitsingh Deshmukh, a former Maharashtra minister, who contested as an independent after being denied the party ticket. Mr Deshmukh garnered 79,638 votes. Mr Jadhav polled 231,241 votes while Mr Mohite secured 198,699 votes. There were nine other candidates in the fray from this constituency.

Sitting BJP MPs Y G Mahajan and M K Anna Patil had to resign after they were implicated in the ''cash-for-query'' sting operation, thereby necessitating the by-elections in Jalgaon and Erandol Lok Sabha constituencies respectively.

However, the sting operation did not harm the BJP's prospect in the Jalgaon constituency where its candidate Haribhau Jawale defeated Dr Arjun Bhangale of the Congress. Mr Jawale bagged 2,27,619 votes as against the 201,902 votes polled by Dr Bhangale. A total of eleven candidates were in the fray from this constituency.

The sting operation, however, appears to have harmed the BJP in Erandol where the NCP has wrested the seat. Vasantrao More of NCP polled 241,707 votes and defeated BJP's Dr B S Patil who could garner 1,89,498 votes. Fifteen candidates were in the fray from the Erandol constituency.

UNI