Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading from Nagpur south-west by over 11,000 votes, according to the Election Commission.
He is looking to win a fourth consecutive term and is pitted against Congress’s Ashish Deshmukh, who was trailing with just over 9,200 votes.
Fadnavis is only the second to complete his tenure in the last 40 years. He was elevated to CM post in 2014 despite having no ministerial experience
HuffPost India’s Pavan Dahat’s profile of the BJP leader traces how he emerged as the undisputed leader in Maharashtra’s BJP, sidelining each of his opponents.
“Five years later, the 49-year-old has cut to size any potential rival who could have threatened his dominance within the BJP; weakened ally Shiv Sena’s bargaining power; hit opposition parties where it hurts by luring across influential leaders; reportedly fostered a media cabal more loyal than any chief minister could boast of earlier; and most importantly, despite being from a socially dominant but politically non-significant caste, managed to stay in the good books of both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.”
Fadnavis is expected to win his seat easily on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya looks set to win from Worli, Mumbai, bolstering his party’s dreams of making him the youngest chief minister of Maharashtra.
Huffpost India’s Pavan Dahat reports that Aaditya Thackeray’s wins could give Shiv Sena a much-needed bargaining chip against alliance partner BJP, which could be restricted to 100 seats in the state if early trends are anything to go by.