Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) BJP's Prasad Lad today defeatedhis Congress rival Dilip Mane in the bypoll held to the loneMaharashtra Legislative Council seat.
Though Lad's victory was certain given that numberswere heavily stacked in his favour, the election witnessedsplitting of nine votes from the opposition camp of theCongress and NCP.
Lad secured 209 votes while Mane bagged 73 votes.
The bypoll was necessitated following resignation offormer Congress leader Narayan Rane whose MaharashtraSwabhiman Paksha is a constituent of the NDA.
Rane is likely to be accommodated as a Cabinetminister in the Devendra Fadnavis government.
In the bypoll, 284 MLAs out of the total 288 MLAsvoted.
Among the remaining four, Waris Pathan and ImtiazJaleel of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musalmeen (AIMIM)abstained from voting whereas Shiv Sena minister Arjun Khotkarcould not cast his ballot as he was disqualified as an MLA bythe high court. Jailed NCP MLA Chhagan Bhujbal could not casthis ballot as he was not granted the necessary permission intime.
Out of the 284 MLAs who cast their ballots, two votesof the BJP were turned invalid, bringing the quota needed forvictory to 142 votes.
On the eve of the bypoll, the tally of votes of theBJP camp, comprising the Shiv Sena, stood at 202 as againstthe combined Congress-NCP tally of 91 votes.
However, the saffron tally whittled down to 200 votesas two votes of the BJP turned invalid, whereas Lad finallygot 9 votes more.
The Congress-NCP tally came down to 85 votes, asCongress MLA Nitesh Rane and NCP's Ramesh Kadam, who is injail, hinted that they had not voted for Mane. Rane supporterKalidas Kolambkar too had turned a Congress rebel.
Out of the 42 MLAs of the Congress, Nitesh Rane, theson of Narayan Rane, indicated that he did not vote for theCongress candidate. Out of 41 MLAs of the NCP, Bhujbal couldnot vote while Kadam voted in favor of Lad, besides abstentionof two AIMIM MLAs.
The BJP-led saffron camp has 196 votes and managed toenlist the support of six more votes, bringing its overalltally to 202 votes.
Out of 196 votes, the BJP has 122 MLAs, Sena (62 minusArjun Khotkar), BVA (3), MNS (1), RSP (1) and Independent (7).
With Lad's win, the BJP's strength in the 78-memberLegislative Council rose from 17 to 18, whereas the Congress'tally comes down to 18 from 19.
The current partywise strength in the 78 memberLegislative Council is as follows: NCP 23, Congress 18, BJP18, Sena 9, JD-U 1, PWP-I 1, PRP 1, Independents 6 and vacant1. PTI MMNSK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.