Richest, poorest candidates defeated in Maharashtra polls

Mumbai: The richest and poorest candidates who contested the Maharashtra assembly elections were defeated. However, the second richest candidate among a total of 1,356 contestants, BJP's Mangal Prabhat Lodha (58), won from the Malabar Hill constituency.

Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu emerged triumphant from the Dindoshi assembly constituency in Mumbai, defeating Maharashtra's richest candidate and BJP nominee Mohit Kamboj.

Kamboj had declared assets worth Rs 353.53 crore. His affidavit had stated that he cleared his first year of Bachelor of Commerce in 2003 and has business interests in real estate and bullion.

Sena candidate Prabhu secured 56,577 votes while his nearest rival Rajhans Singh of the Congress polled 36,749 votes, followed by Kamboj, who obtained 36,169 votes.

Other candidates in the fray were Shalini Jeetendra Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) who got 14,662 votes and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Raorane Ajit Balkrishna, who stood fifth, with 8,550 votes.

Lodha, who pulled a surprise win in Malabar Hill constituency in Mumbai, polled 97,818 votes, followed by Arvind Dudhwadkar of the Shiv Sena (29,132) and Susieben Shah of Congress (10,928). Lodha, who declared assets worth Rs 198.61 crore, is a law graduate and a construction magnate.

The poorest candidate, Kidappil Narayanan Keshav of the Communist Party of India (M), who declared assets worth Rs 15,934 to the Election Commission, lost from Andheri West constituency in the metropolis.

A social worker by profession, Keshav is a secondary school passout from Kerala. Keshav secured 2,138 votes, while the winner in his constituency, Ameet Satam of the BJP, secured 59,022 votes, followed by Ashok Jadhav of the Congress, who got 34,982 votes.

The second "poorest" candidate was gangster-turned -politician Arun Gawli's daughter Geeta Gawli, who also lost the elections. Akhil Bharatiya Sena's Geeta Gawli, who contested from Byculla constituency in the city, received 20,895 votes.

However, the Byculla constituency was won by advocate Waris Yusuf Pathan of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, who recieved 25,314 votes. Geeta Gawli, who was fielded by the Akhil Bharatiya Sena is a class ten passout and a BMC corporator who declared assets worth Rs 1.29 crore to the Election Commission.