The BEST Employees’ Cooperative Credit Society Ltd board election has delivered an unexpected result on Wednesday, August 20. Shashank Rao's panel won 14 seats, while the Mahayuti-backed panel Lad and Darekar secured seven seats. The panel fielded by the much-talked-about Thackeray brothers’ alliance suffered a comprehensive defeat, failing to win even a single seat.
The election was held on August 18, 2025, with counting continuing late into the night on Tuesday due to heavy rain. Despite the downpour, workers turned out in large numbers, with an 83% voter turnout. For both the Thackeray brothers and the Mahayuti, this election was the litmus test for the upcoming civic body polls in Maharashtra. However, both rivals failed, with Mahayuti scoring low and Sena UBT and MNS alliance failing to win a single seat.
Political sources told The Times of India that this was a precursor to the BMC polls where the ruling party alliance is likely to face similar opposition from Sena (UBT) and MNS.
Rao’s BEST Workers’ Union has now come to power in the credit society. The contest was widely seen as a showdown between the Thackeray brothers and MLA Prasad Lad. Both camps had claimed victory on social media, but Shashank Rao’s panel triumphed decisively, securing 14 seats against Prasad Lad’s 7.
Winning Candidates from Shashank Rao’s Panel (14 seats)
Ambekar Milind Shamrao
Ambre Sanjay Tukaram
Jadhav Prakash Pratap
Jadhav Shivaji Vitthalrao
Ammundkar Shashikant Shantaram
Kharmate Shivaji Vishwanath
Bhise Ujjwal Madhukar
Dhende Madhusudan Vitthal
Kore Nitin Gajanan
Kirat Sandeep Ashok
Women’s Reserved
11. Dongre Bhagyashree Ratan
Scheduled Castes/Tribes
Dhongde Prabhakar Khandu
Nomadic Tribes
Changan Kiran Raosaheb
Other Backward Classes
Shinde Dattatray Baburao
Winning Candidates from Prasad Lad’s Panel (7 seats)
Ramchandra Bagwe
Santosh Bendre
Santosh Chatur
Rajendra Gore
Vijay Kumar Kanade
Rohit Keni
Women’s Reserved
Rohini Bait
Shiv Sena UBT leader Suhas Samant was surprised seeing the Mumbai BEST result. He said over 12,000 employees are supporting his party and still he lost the polls. He alleged cash for votes in BEST polls as he predicted different trend.
The opposition panel, led by legislators Prasad Lad and Pravin Darekar, denied Samant's allegations. They stated that the BEST employees "voted for a change" because they had been aware of corruption in the cooperative society for many years.