While the Mahayuti swept the Maharashtra assembly polls in the state, the vote margin of several candidates, including Congress' Nana Patole and AIMIM's Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique, made headlines.
In Nashik district, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) sitting MLA Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique defeated Asif Shaikh Rasheed of the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra by just 162 votes in the Malegaon Central seat. Khalique won by a narrow margin of 162 votes, securing 109,653 votes. His main rival, Asif Shaikh Rasheed, garnered 109,491 votes, making it a closely contested race. Meanwhile, Shaan E Hind Nihal Ahmed of the Samajwadi Party received only 9,624 votes, losing by a substantial margin of 100,029 votes.
Jaleel loses Aurangabad East
However, the party received a setback as Imtiaz Jaleel lost in Aurangabad East against Minister and BJP MLA Atul Save by just 2,161 votes. Save emerged victorious with 93,274 votes, winning by a margin of 2,161 votes over his closest competitor, Imtiaz Jaleel Syed, who secured 91,113 votes. Other candidates, including Lahu Hanmantrao Shewale of the Indian National Congress (12,568 votes), Afsar Khan Yasin Khan of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (6,507 votes), and Abdul Gaffar Quadri Syed of the Samajwadi Party (5,943 votes), trailed significantly, each losing by large margins, highlighting the dominant support for the BJP in this election.
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led party, which fielded 14 candidates, won one seat in state.
Reduced victory margins
While the victory margins of several bigwigs of the MVA came down, many of them lost. In Karjat Jamkhed, MLA Rohit Pawar escaped defeat by just 1,243 votes. In Ambegaon, former Home Minister and NCP-AP's Dilip Walse Patil, who has been an MLA for the last six terms, escaped defeat by just 1,523 votes as NCP-SP's Devdatta Nikam gave him a tough fight.
In Sakoli, Nana Patole defeated BJP's Avinash Brahmankar by 208 votes in Bhandara district.
