Solapur: Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on May 24 won the by-poll from the South Solapur Assembly constituency by a record 91.02 per cent votes, polling 85,329 out the 93,739 valid votes.

The senior Congress leader romped home by a margin of 79,433 votes, while his three opponents managed only 8,410 votes among themselves. His nearest rival Sanjeev Sadafule (Bahujan Samaj Party) secured 5,896 votes followed by Vishnu Kumbhar (Ind) 1571 and Sunil Waghmare (Prabudh Republication Party) 943 votes.

The Chief Minister has thus established a new record, with highest percentage of votes in the state Assembly elections, but the record of highest margin is still in the name of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had won the Latur seat by a margin of over 85,000 votes in 1998 Assembly elections.

Shinde had taken over the reins of the state on January 18, 2003. Minister for Dairy Development Anandrao Deokate had resigned from South Solapur seat to enable Shinde to get elected to the lower house. The Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not put up any candidate against him.

The counting for the May 21 by-poll was held at Ramwadi Godowns amidst tight security and electronic voting machines were used for the first time in the constituency.

PTI