MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, which includes Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has made a strong comeback by winning 9 out of 11 seats in the upper house of the Maharashtra legislature. This follows a disappointing performance in the recent elections. Political analysts view the MLC election as a precursor to the Maharashtra Assembly election later this year, and this victory has significantly boosted the morale of the Mahayuti coalition and its supporters, who were disheartened after the Lok Sabha results.

The BJP had five candidates, including Pankaja Munde, daughter of the late leader Gopinath Munde, and all five were victorious. The Shinde-led Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP each fielded two candidates, all of whom won. In contrast, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), consisting of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UTB), and Sharad Pawar's NCP, managed to secure only two out of three seats.

The victorious BJP candidates included Pankaja Munde, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe, Yogesh Tilekar, and Sadabhav Khot. Shiv Sena's Krupal Tumane and Bhavana Gawali, and NCP's Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje also won. On the opposition side, only Pradnya Satav of Congress and Milind Narvekar of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena were elected. Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, supported by Sharad Pawar's NCP, lost the election.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis celebrated the victory with a brief message on X (formerly Twitter), "9/9," with a thumbs-up emoji. Ajit Pawar expressed gratitude for the support, saying, "Five MLAs supported us, I thank them. When there are elections, allegations are made but I do not think about it... and I am sure Mahayuti should get such success in the Vidhan Sabha as well."