After Devendra Fadnavis addressed the press in Mumbai, he was fed sweets by senior BJP leader Om Prakash Mathur, flashing the victory sign
Nagpur.
As anticipated, one of the most deserving CM pick for the next Maharashtra government, Devendra Fadnavis has apparently registered a thumping win from South West Nagpur assembly constituency by over 70,000 votes, which means 57% of the total votes polled. He has cornered his Congress rival Prafulla Gudadhe Patil. Fadnavis has moved far beyond his previous margin of winning by 28,000 votes during 2009 assembly elections.
Trailing behind him, but still at second position is Prafull Gudahde Patil of Indian National Congress with 34398 votes which accounts for 28% of total votes. It is worth mentioning here that though Prafull is contesting Vidhan Sabha elections for the first time, his father, Vinod Gudadhe was the first BJP MLA of this constituency but subsequently left BJP to join Congress.
At third position is Dr. Rajendra Padole with 8978 votes and 7% of vote count. Panju Totwani who recently quit BJP to join the Shiv Sena is at a distant four with 4994 votes and just 4%. The Shiv Sena’s gamble of garnishing the large Sindhi community votes and spoil Devendra’s chances hasn’t quite worked. Dilip Pankule of NCP has a tally of only 737 votes mirroring the dismal showing of NCP all over Nagpur.
The resounding victory of Mr. Nitin Gadkari in the recently held Lok Sabha elections still seems to be working in favour of all BJP candidates contesting from Nagpur.
Fadnavis began his career commenced in the early nineties, when he joined the BJP Maharashtra as a ward President, BJYM. Devendra became the youngest municipal corporator of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation at the age of 21 and remained corporator for two consecutive terms, in 1992 and 1997.
He was the second youngest mayor elected in India, when he served as the Mayor of Nagpur at the age of 27, in 1997. He is also the only person to be re-elected as the Mayor in Council of the State of Maharashtra. He has been elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra State, representing Nagpur, since, 1999.
