'Rahul Gandhi Our Greatest Brand Ambassador': Mahayuti Leaders Slam Congress As Alliance Leads In 3 Seats |VIDEO

Mumbai: The counting of votes for five Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) seats was underway on Wednesday, with the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance ahead in three constituencies and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leading in two, according to the latest reported trends.

The developments triggered political reactions from leaders of both alliances, with Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Minister of State Ashish Jaiswal criticising the Congress leadership.

On the other hand, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) state president Shashikant Shinde expressed confidence that his party's candidates would secure victories.

Rahul Gandhi Our Greatest Brand Ambassador: Nitesh Rane

Reacting to the election trends, Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“Ever since Rahul Gandhi became a leader, he has effectively become our greatest brand ambassador. The more he engages in theatrics, the more the people of this country rally behind our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,” Rane said.

He also accused the opposition of repeatedly questioning electoral processes instead of accepting election outcomes.

“Once again, this election has demonstrated that the nation stands with Narendra Modi... Whether you use ballot papers or EVMs, the outcome will be the same. Instead of constantly complaining—first about EVMs, and then about SIR—they should consider that if they were to work for the people 24/7, just as we do as their representatives, they might see different results,” Rane added.

Rahul Narwekar Urges Opposition To Introspect

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said political parties should respect electoral outcomes and examine their shortcomings.

“This is the public's mandate; it is wise to accept and respect it. I believe these results should prompt every political party to engage in introspection and identify where they may be falling short,” Narwekar said.

Ashish Jaiswal Criticises Congress

Minister of State Ashish Jaiswal also targeted the Congress, accusing its leadership of blaming electoral institutions for political setbacks.

“To hide the failure of their leadership, they are blaming the system through various methods. Sometimes they say it's because of the SIR, sometimes they say there's a flaw in the EVM machines, and sometimes they say there was bogus voting,” Jaiswal said.

He alleged that such statements were intended to divert attention from the party's organisational weaknesses.

Shashikant Shinde Confident Of NCP (SP) Victories

On the other hand, NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde expressed confidence in his party's performance.

“On behalf of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, we fielded candidates from the NCP faction... Both our candidates are currently leading, and I am confident that they will win when the final results are announced in the next two to three hours,” he said.

Mahayuti Leads In Three Seats, MVA Ahead In Two

Polling for the five Legislative Council seats was held on October 23, while counting began on October 27.

A total of 182 candidates contested the elections across three Graduates' constituencies are Pune, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and two Teachers' constituencies are Pune and Amravati.

According to the latest reported trends, NCP (SP) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav was leading against BJP candidate Smita Jadhav in the Pune Graduates' constituency.

In the Amravati Teachers' constituency, Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik was ahead of his rivals. BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale was leading in Nagpur Graduates', while NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil was ahead in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates'.

BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade was leading in the Pune Teachers' constituency.

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Published on: Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 08:08 PM IST