The most high-profile poll battle in Maharashtra, fought between President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Shekhawat and Congress rebel Sunil Deshmukh in Amravati, went to the wire during counting on Wednesday, with both candidates having the upper hand during different rounds before Shekhawat won by a small margin. Political observers attributed it largely to Muslims overwhelmingly voting in his favour and old-timers in the party standing firmly behind him.

Deshmukh, whose work in the constituency is generally acknowledged by Amravati residents, lost by a little over 5,600 votes despite starting off as a favourite. Despite the fact that 18 out of the 21 Amravati corporators were initially with Deshmukh, Shekhawat gave a glimpse of his prowess by organising a huge crowd comparable to that of Deshmukh at the time of filing nomination papers. While most were giving Deshmukh an edge over him until the last minute, it is gathered that some corporators were actually working for Shekhawat.

Yet, Deshmukh was ahead by a sizeable lead of 6,000 votes in the initial rounds of counting. It was in the ninth round that Shekhawat started getting an upper hand. By the 16th round, he had gained a lead of over 7,000 votes. In the last three rounds, Deshmukh recovered some ground but not enough to beat his more high-profile rival. It is learnt that EVMs from areas dominated by Muslim voters came in for counting after the ninth round, causing the turnaround in Shekhawat’s favour. Shekhawat is also understood to have got sizeable Dalit votes.

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