Gokul Gite and his supporters celebrate his poll victory against Mahayuti nominee Narendra Darade in the Nashik local authorities constituencyNASHIK: BJP rebel and independent candidate Gokul Gite’s win over the Mahayuti nominee Narendra Darade in the Nashik local authorities constituency is just a pointer to how cross-voting played out in the 11 seats that went to the polls on June 18.The results, announced on Saturday, had Mahayuti emerging victorious in 10 of the seats, but there was a strong undercurrent of croass-voting. In fact, cross-voting in places like Satara, Sangli, Nagpur and Akola showed the alliance couldn’t stop its members in spite of a majority. Marathwada saw a contrast with cross-voting boosting BJP-Sena margins in three of four seats. Mahayuti had already won six of the 17 MLC seats unopposed.In Nashik, Gite defeated the Mahayuti candidate, despite the Darade camp claiming a commanding share of 473 out of 618 votes. Gite secured 357 votes, surpassing Darade by 109 and comfortably crossing the preferential victory quota of 303 to seal an unexpected win when votes were counted at the Nashik district collectorate on Monday. The result flew in the face of weeks of political manoeuvring and tight control measures by Mahayuti, including “resort politics”, to prevent cross-voting. Yet, the final tally breached every safeguard.The contest had drawn attention from the outset after brothers, Ganesh and Gokul Gite, entered the fray as independents against Darade. While Ganesh Gite, a former NMC standing committee chairman and close confidante of WRD minister Girish Mahajan, withdrew, Gokul Gite remained in the race despite sustained pressure. Three senior ministers — Girish Mahajan, Uday Samant and Dada Bhuse — camped in Nashik for nearly six days to secure his withdrawal, eventually extracting only a partial climbdown.“I never said I supported an inappropriate and incompatible candidate like Narendra Darade, who failed to fulfil the aspirations of his voters throughout his tenure as MLC,” Gokul Gite said after the win. “I only stopped my campaign, but activists and voters from across the district supported me anyway.”As counting trends turned decisive, Darade and his family members, including son Kunal and brother Kishor, left the venue abruptly. A visibly upset Darade alleged betrayal from within his own alliance. “All the functionaries and workers of Mahayuti, except deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, have betrayed me. They kept me in the dark while supporting my opponent,” he said.Kishor Darade echoed the charge, pointing to internal sabotage. “We had called for a straight fight. Netas from Mumbai too intervened, saying a contest would set wrong precedents. Now we understand what that was actually about,” he said.Gokul Gite, meanwhile, claimed even family ties were leveraged against him to sway voters, but all failed. “Deepali Gite (Ganesh Gite’s wife), an elected member, had appealed to voters to support Darade during the campaign. But the voters were determined to cast their ballots in my favour,” Gokul added.Water resources minister Girish Mahajan admitted surprise at the result, but denied allegations of betrayal. “We have not betrayed anybody. I know Darade is feeling distressed right now. We were relying on Gokul’s exit, which he apparently did not fully execute. We will carry out an internal introspection,” he said. Minister Uday Samant said a detailed report would be submitted to deputy CM Eknath Shinde.Historically, Nashik’s MLC seat has often thrown up winners from outside the ruling establishment, and Gite’s victory continues that trend, joining past upsets involving the likes of Vasant Pawar and Devidas Pingle..Absence of whip countedThe upset has once again underscored the unpredictability of local authorities’ elections conducted through preferential voting and secret ballot. Without the enforceability of a party whip, cross-voting becomes difficult to detect or prevent—a factor Mahayuti functionaries had feared from the start. That is way they had worked so hard to get Gite out of the race.“In the absence of a whip, a nominated party official who ensures voting discipline, there is always a high chance of cross-voting, which is exactly what happened here,” a senior BJP office-bearer said on condition of anonymity. “BJP’s Narendra Mahajan logs big win in JalgaonIn sharp contrast to Nashik, BJP’s Narendra Mahajan registered a landslide victory in Jalgaon, polling 582 of 611 valid votes. Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Sharad Tayade got 17 votes, independent Anil Chaudhary secured 11, while rebel Reshma Kale managed just one vote.Kale, who stopped campaigning to support Mahajan, the Mahayuti candidate, expressed regret after hearing the Nashik results. “We put our faith in BJP’s commitment to support the Mahayuti candidate in Nashik, which is why I had stepped back in Jalgaon. After seeing the Nashik result, I wish I had contested with full commitment.”