Maharashtra Council elections: 3 party MLAs cross-voted says BJP leader

New Delhi, Jun 21: Even as the BJP won all five seats it contested in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections on Monday, Mohit Kamboj, its leader from Mumbai, claimed that three MLAs of the party indulged in "cross-voting."

In a WhatsApp message that went viral, Kamboj, who has worked as the BJP's Mumbai unit functionary, said, "We got 134 votes while one vote was wasted. Three BJP MLAs cross-voted. Three MLAs of Bahujan Vikas Aghadi did not vote for us."

The BJP had fielded five candidates - Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre, Shrikant Bharatiya and Prasad Lad - of which the first four bagged the minimum quota of votes required to win the poll in the first round of counting.

Lad won in the second round, while Congress' Chandrakant Handore lost.

Kamboj is known for his proximity to senior BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Earlier, reacting to the party's victory, Mr Fadnavis had said, "There is a lot of speculation about cross-voting, etc, but I alone know who voted for which candidate. I thank all the independent MLAs and small parties for their support." Kamboj was not available for comments over his WhatsApp post.

(PTI)