The counting of votes for the Amravati division Graduate Constituency Election is still underway. Meanwhile, BJP and Congress party workers clashed outside the counting centre. Slogans were raised in support of the old pension.
Supporters from both parties came face-to-face at midnight yesterday. In front of BJP candidate Dr Ranjit Patil, slogans were raised in support of the old pension scheme. BJP candidate Ranjit Patil walked out of the counting centre.
An official said that no candidate could secure the necessary vote quota on Friday, more than 24 hours after the process began.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate, Dhiraj Lingade, is ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee and sitting MLC, Ranjit Patil. But nobody from them has so far completed the necessary quota of 47,101 votes.
According to the official, there were 23 candidates in the running, 17 of whom have been eliminated as the second preference votes are being counted. There are 94,200 votes, of which 8,387 were invalid, he said.
"Till 11 a.m., Lingade had snagged 43,929 votes, while the BJP’s Patil secured 41,460," the official added.
In a setback to the ruling BJP-Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena combine in Maharashtra, the opposition MVA-backed candidates clinched two of the five Legislative Council seats, which were up for grabs in the biennial elections from the teachers and graduates segments.