Congress state chief Nanabhau Patole on Saturday won the Maharashtra Assembly elections from Sakoli Assembly constituency, defeating Avinash Brahmankar by a small margin of 208 votes, according to Election Commission data.

After 28 rounds of counting, Patole had secured 96,795 of the total votes counted. Brahmankar garnered 96,587 votes.

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The ruling Mahayuti alliance – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena group led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar – is headed for an overwhelming victory in the Assembly elections.

At 9 pm on Saturday, the alliance had won 217 seats and was leading in 13 others. A party or coalition needs 145 seats to form the government.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi won 44 seats and was leading in 4 others, according to Election Commission data. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 20 seats, the Congress won 12 seats and was ahead in three and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Sharad Pawar won 10 seats.

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