NCP wrests Bhandara-Gondiya seat from BJP

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today wrested the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seat from the BJP, which had won it in 2014 defeating senior NCP leader Praful Patel.

NCP's Madhukar Kukade defeated Hemant Patle of BJP by 48,097 votes in the bypolls, an election official said.

The bypoll was necessitated due to resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole.

The NCP nominee polled 4,42,213 votes against the BJP candidate's 3,94,116, the official said.

The other 16 candidates in the fray were mostly independents or belonged to local outfits. The total valid votes polled were 9,42,048.

The bypoll was held on May 28 and repolling was held at 49 centres on May 29 after EVM malfunctioning was reported.

The result takes NCP's tally of Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra to five, while the number of BJP Lok Sabha members from the state was reduced to 22.

Patole resigned from the party and Lok Sabha in December last year, alleging government's failure in handling economy, agriculture and unemployment.

He was a known critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and often hit out at the NDA government's policy decisions.

A former Congress legislator, Patole joined the BJP in the run up to the 16th Lok Sabha elections and defeated senior NCP leader Praful Patel.