The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena suffered a major setback on Monday after its nominee Narendra Darade was defeated by BJP rebel candidate Gokul Gite in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls from the Nashik district local governing body constituency.
Gite, who contested as an independent, secured 357 votes against Darade’s 248, winning by a margin of 109 votes. His victory came as a surprise, with the ruling alliance candidate widely expected to perform strongly.
Shiv Sena leader and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had campaigned for Darade in the constituency, along with several other ruling alliance representatives.
Earlier, after Gite announced his candidature, senior Mahayuti leaders—including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde, BJP minister Girish Mahajan, and Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant—had intervened to persuade him to withdraw from the contest.
Although Gite later halted his campaign following discussions, his name remained on the ballot as the withdrawal deadline had passed. He said on Monday that while he had stopped campaigning personally, his supporters had continued to canvass on his behalf.
Shiv Sena MLC Manisha Kayande raised doubts over the outcome, saying, “There is a serious doubt about the result as we were assured that our candidate would be supported.”
Elections to 11 seats in the state Legislative Council were held on June 18. In other constituencies, BJP’s Arun Lakhani (Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli) and Prajakt Tanpure (Ahilyanagar), NCP nominees Vikram Kakade (Pune) and Aniket Tatkare (Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), and Shiv Sena candidates Ravindra Phatak (Thane) and Dushyant Chaturvedi (Yavatmal) were elected unopposed.
The Nashik defeat is being seen as a setback for the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which had recently gained momentum after six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs switched allegiance to its camp.
