Barring an upset in Amravati, the Bharatiya Janata Party–Shiv Sena alliance swept eight of the nine reserved Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Keenly fought battles were witnessed in all seats: Solapur (SC), Nandurbar (ST), Amravati (SC), Ramtek (SC), Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST), Dindori (ST), Palghar (ST), Latur (SC), and Shirdi (SC).
In Amravati, 34-year-old actor and Independent candidate Navneet Rana trounced Shiv Sena leader and two-time sitting MP Anandrao Adsul by a little over 35,000 votes. A former bastion of Congressman and farmer leader Panjabrao Deshmukh, the constituency has largely been dominated by the Sena and Mr. Adsul since 1996. In 2014, Ms. Rana, contesting on an NCP ticket, lost to Mr. Adsul by 1.37 lakh votes. This time, Ms. Rana’s extensive campaigning and connect with the rural voters helped her secure an edge over Mr. Adsul, largely viewed as a ‘Mumbai man’ by Chandrapur’s voters.
Arguably, the most prestigious contest in terms of candidates was in Solapur, where former Union minister and Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde lost heavily to Dr. Jai Siddheshwar Shivacharya Swami, the Lingayat seer fielded by the BJP. Mr. Shinde lost by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes.