Maharashtra: BJP wins 3 of 6 Rajya Sabha seats in major setback to ruling Sena-NCP-Cong alliance
Mumbai(PTI): In a major setback to Maharashtra's ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the BJP on Saturday won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state, even as the ruling combine questioned the eight-hour delay in counting of votes.
The winners include BJP candidates Union minister Piyush Goyal and former state minister Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik.
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, NCP's Praful Patel and Congress' Imran Pratapgarhi also won the fiercely-fought elections.
The contest was for the sixth seat the BJP had fielded former MP Dhananjay Mahadik and the Shiv Sena candidate was Sanjay Pawar, who lost.
Mahadik and Pawar hail from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.
The high-stake battle for the sixth turned out to be a nail-biting affair with the Congress and BJP trading charges, even approaching the Election Commission.
"Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra," tweeted BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, whose refusal to have a consensus candidates for the Rajya Sabha led to elections in the state after 23 years.
The counting of votes started after an eight-hour delay amid complaints of cross voting and rules violation by the BJP and the ruling alliance.
Both BJP and the Shiv Sena approached the Election Commission, alleging cross voting and seeking disqualification of votes.
The poll panel directed the Rajya Sabha election returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande, after which the counting of votes got underway.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
