The Shiv Sena-BJP’s expectation to improve its position in Vidarbha using the anti-incumbency factor reflecting mainly in problems like farm crisis, power cuts and price rise remained a pipe dream, with the combine losing one seat from its earlier tally of 28. The alliance was projecting a figure of 35 seats for itself.

This, however, was hardly a gain for the Cong-NCP combine, which ended up four seats short of its earlier tally of 32.

In a region that has virtually no MNS factor, Independents won four seats, the Third Front won one, while the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh led by Prakash Ambedkar won two seats.

While the Sena-BJP did better this time by winning most seats in east Vidarbha, the Cong-NCP came out ahead in the farmer suicide belt of west Vidarbha, where it had won only Wardha in the Lok Sabha contest and had lost all other five constituencies.

One of the biggest surprises in Vidarbha was the complete turnaround in Nagpur and Yavatmal districts for both the combines when viewed from the perspective of their Lok Sabha performance. While Nagpur seat was won handsomely by the Congress’s Vilas Muttemwar, Yavatmal-Washim went to the Sena’s Bhavna Gawli.

The saffron combine, however, performed spectacularly this time in Nagpur district winning eight out of 12 seats, four in Nagpur city going to the BJP. The Sena won the Ramtek seat while the BJP won Hingna, Kamptee and Umred seats.

The biggest setbacks to the ruling alliance in Nagpur were the defeats of former minister and three-time MLA Satish Chaturvedi of the Congress from his bastion of East Nagpur, where Krishna Khopde of the BJP won and Minister Anees Ahmed, also of the Congress, who lost by a slender margin to the BJP’s Sudhakar Deshmukh. Another Congress minister Nitin Raut, however, retained his North Nagpur seat. The Congress-NCP’s main gain was in Yavatmal where it won six out of seven seats.