Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party and it's alliance partner Shiv Sena is surging ahead with its candidates leading in 44 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra.The BJP was ahead in 24 seats and the Sena in 20, while the NCP was ahead in three and the AIMIM in one seat.
Senior BJP leaders and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Subhash Bhamre were leading in Nagpur and Dhule seats respectively.
All Congress candidates, including former Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, state president Ashok Chavan and Mumbai unit chief Milind Deora, were trailing in their seats.BJP's Sujay Vikhe Patil established a lead of 87,287 votes over his NCP rival Sangram Jagtap in Ahmednagar.
The BJP nominee, son of Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, quit the Rahul Gandhi-led party to join the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. In Jalgaon, BJP's Unmesh Patil was leading by 92,893 votes over NCP's former state minister Gulabrao Devkar.
In Maval, sitting Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne also established a comfortable lead of 1,12,634 votes over his NCP rival Parth Pawar, the grand nephew of former Union minister Sharad Pawar.
In Mumbai-North, BJP's Gopal Shetty established a lead of 94,267 votes over Congress' nominee Urmila Matondkar. In Mumbai-North East, BJP's Manoj Kotak got a lead of 1,04,882 votes over his NCP rival Sanjay Dina Patil. In Raver, BJP's Raksha Khadse was leading by 92,398 votes over her Congress rival Ulhas Patil.In Kolhapur, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Mandlik took a lead of 75,723 votes over sitting NCP MP Dhananjay Mahadik.
After the 2014 elections, the state politics saw a drastic change in the party equations and alliances were forged only days before the elections. BJP's natural ally Shiv Sena had turned into its worst critique in the state, taking the party down for not addressing the state's local concerns.
The two sparring allies finally decided to bury the hatchet and retain their tie-up in the general elections and Maharashtra state elections that will follow later this year.In February, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and BJP president Amit Shah addressed a joint press conference in Mumbai and declared that the two parties have decided to make "peace" for the larger "Hindutva agenda".
The results will decide the fate of four Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Hansraj Ahir, Subhash Bhamre and Anant Gite ? and two Congress loyalists " Ashok Chavan and Shinde.
Maharashtra is one of the most important states to look for in the results table. The state sends 48 MPs to Parliament including six from the financial capital " Mumbai " of the country.
In the city's 'Mumbai North' constituency, Congress's star candidate Urmila Matondkar is trailing behind the BJP's Gopal Shetty by over 50,000 votes. BJP's Poonam Mahajan is leading in the Mumbai North-Central seat, ahead of Congress's candidate Priya Dutt with a margin of over 25,000 votes.
It has the second highest number of members of parliament to the Lok Sabha (48) after Uttar Pradesh (80). It polled in four phases this year, unlike 2014, when elections were carried out in three phases.(UNI)
