Maharashtra Results: NCP's Dhananjay Munde Defeats Estranged Cousin Pankaja Munde By Over 30,000 Votes

Pankaja Munde, the minister in Devendra Fadnavis cabinet, lost from Parli Assembly Seast on Thursday. Her cousin and political opponent Dhananjay Munde defeated her with more than 54% of the total votes polls. Dhananjay Munde defeated the Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde of the BJP by a margin of 30,768 votes. Contesting from Parli in Beed district, Dhananjay polled 1,21,186 votes while his estranged cousin Pankaja got 90,418 votes. Pankaja is daughter of BJP veteran late Gopinath Munde. Later, cabinet minister Pankaja Munde on accepted her defeat from Parli assembly seat at the hands of her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. "I worked for the constituency. Though I was in the government, my struggle for my constituency and people continued. I take responsibility of this defeat," she said. Pankaja Gopinathrao Munde had won this seat in the 2014 elections. In 2009, she defeated Munde Trimbak Patloba of Congress with a margin of nearly 36,000 votes.

Counting of votes for the 288 Assembly segments is underway at 269 locations, the officials said. The polling held on Monday saw a voter turnout of 61.13 per cent, a dip from the 63.20 per cent recorded in 2014, the official said. The highest turnout, of 83.93 per cent, was reported in the Karveer assembly seat in Kolhapur, while the lowest was in south Mumbai’s upmarket Colaba area at 40.11 per cent.