Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti (left) flashes the victory sign after her win in Solapur on Sunday; Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja celebrates her win in Parli. (PTI)

Nagpur, Oct. 19: A total turnaround unfolded for the BJP today in Marathwada and in Beed in particular, the outcome of a process Gopinath Munde began to script the day he was decimated on home turf in 2009, by rivals within his party and outside.

But Munde did not live to see his strategy succeed. “If my father were alive today, he would be extremely happy,” elder daughter Pankaja said in Mumbai amid celebrations.

While Pankaja retained her seat in hometown Parli — a constituency her father had nurtured for 30 years — younger sibling Preetam, a doctor, won the Beed Lok Sabha seat by nearly seven lakh votes. The bypoll was necessitated by Munde’s death in a car crash in Delhi this June, days after he became a minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Today, not only did Pankaja defeat her cousin, the NCP’s Dhananjay Munde, by 25,000 votes, she also helped the BJP reclaim four other seats in this drought-prone district of Marathwada, reversing the results of 2009. By the end of the day, it read: 5:1 in favour of the BJP against that of 2009 when the BJP had won only the Parli seat in entire Marathwada (46 seats) — a drubbing the late Munde could never live down.

It was a mix of sympathy and political strategy that Pankaja and her sister rode, something that also seemed to have worked a few miles away in Latur for the late Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Amit. He won by around 50,000 votes in a departure from the state-wide trend of the Congress’s decimation.

Like Pankaja, this was Amit’s first election after his father’s 2012 demise. Amit first became MLA in 2009 when he won from the constituency vacated for him by Vilasrao. “This time, he won on my work. Next time, he will have to win on his own,” Vilasrao had said in 2009 after Amit’s victory. In his campaign this time, Amit invoked his father’s legacy and his own work.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, too, faced his first election after Balasaheb Thackeray’s death almost two years ago, and did not forget to recall his father’s legacy. Going by today’s results, Uddhav didn’t do badly, given that the Sena took the second spot, doing better than either the Congress or the NCP after their split.

For many other political families, the day threw up mixed results. While Congress stalwart Narayan Rane lost in Kudal in a stunning setback, son Nitesh won from the family stronghold of Kankavli. Both seats are in Konkan. Nitesh’s triumph was the only consolation for the Congress in the coastal belt, which the Sena and the BJP swept.

NCP stalwart and former minister Ganesh Naik bit the dust in Belapur but son Sandeep won big in nearby Navi Mumbai. In Solapur, where former Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had lost the Lok Sabha polls this year, daughter Praniti retained her Assembly seat.

At least two father-son pairs sailed through. NCP strongman Chhagan Bhujbal won from bastion Yeola, while son Pankaj bagged Nandgaon, both in Nashik. Bahujan Vikas Aghadi chief Hitendra Thakur won from Thane’s Vasai and son Kshitij from the neighbouring Nallasopara seat.

In Amravati, former President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Shekhawat lost to Sunil Deshmukh, a Congress-turned-BJP leader. Veteran Congress leader and Bihar governor D.Y. Patil’s sons lost too — Satej (Congress) from Kolhapur South and Ajeenkya (Sena) from Karad South. Outgoing chief minister Prithviraj Chavan beat Ajeenkya.

In Yavatmal, state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre’s son Rahul failed in his debut. Manikrao quit today, owning up to the party’s debacle.

In at least two instances, nephews vanquished uncles: Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar of the BJP defeated Ashok Patil Nilangekar of the Congress in Latur. The BJP’s Ashish Deshmukh trumped former minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh in Nagpur’s Katol.

Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan’s wife Ameeta won the Bhokar seat in Nanded by over 50,000 votes on a party ticket.