Shiv Sena poised for a win in Thane LS seat

Thane, May 25 (UNI) Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today was trailing behind the Shiv Sena by 83,000 votes at the end of the tenth round of counting of votes in the Lok Sabha by-election for the Thane seat.

Shiv Sena's Anand Paranjpe had amassed 4.18 lakh votes as against NCP candidate Sanjeev Naik's 3.35 lakh votes at the end of the tenth round of counting.

The mood in the Shiv Sena camp was upbeat while there was gloom in the NCP camp since Anand's victory appeared imminent.

The counting of votes commenced at 0800 hrs. The polling, which was held on May 22, had witnessed a poor turnout with only 24.57 per cent of the 36-lakh strong electorate exercised its franchise.

The Thane Lok Sabha constituency, incidentally, is the second largest Lok Sabha constituency in the country.

The by-election was necessitated following the demise of sitting Lok Sabha member Prakash Paranjpe of the Shiv Sena. The Sena had fielded his son Anand while the NCP had fielded Sanjeev Naik who is the son of Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik.

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