Maharashtra: Nana Patole scrapes through in Sakoli, wins by 208 votes

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole survived a scare from his nearest BJP rival in the Sakoli Assembly constituency but managed to win the tight contest by a narrow margin of 208 votes.

Patole, the incumbent Congress MLA from Sakoli, polled 96,795 votes, while his challenger from BJP, Avinash Brahmankar, came tantalisingly close to bagging 96,587 votes.

Independent nominee Somadatta Karanjekar was a distant third, bagging 18,309 votes.

While Patole managed to save the face with the thin margin, the Congress unit led by him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi were routed by the BJP-led Mahayuti in the one-sided contest.

Congress leader Tariq Anwar acknowledged that the party's performance in Maharashtra was below expectations and remarked that the grand old party was expecting better results.

On the contrasting trends in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Tariq Anwar admitted there was tension within the party. "We are disappointed with the results in Maharashtra, but the situation in Jharkhand is encouraging."