Nana Patole Resigns As Maharashtra Congress Chief After MVA's Shocking Defeat In Assembly Elections

Heads have started rolling in Maharashtra after the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi suffered a heavy defeat in the Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Saturday.

State Congress chief Nana Patole has resigned after the main Opposition party won only 16 out of the 103 seats it contested. Patole himself, barely managed to win in Sakoli with a margin of just 208 votes.

Patole, a former MP, took over as Maharashtra Congress president in 2021, replacing Balasaheb Thorat. Under his leadership, Congress achieved a remarkable result in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, winning 13 out of the 17 seats it contested.

As the highest scorer among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies, Patole played a key role in the seat-sharing negotiations ahead of the Assembly election, which led to tensions with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar). At one point, reports suggested that Team Thackeray had refused to hold seat-sharing talks if Patole was involved.

Even two days before the election results, Patole's statement claiming that the Congress would lead the Maha Vikas Aghadi government after the election caused friction, with Team Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut stating he would not accept this.

The election results, however, showed the Maha Vikas Aghadi collapsing well below the 50-seat mark, while the BJP-led Mahayuti secured a massive 232 seats.

Congress suffered its worst-ever performance in a Maharashtra election, with its tally falling from 44 in the previous election to just 16 this time.