Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar’s supporters have fun his victory within the Kasba Peth Assembly bypoll, in Pune on March 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
In a setback to the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance emerged triumphant within the Kasba Peth Assembly bypoll, unseating the BJP for the primary time from that phase in nearly three a long time.
The Congress’ Ravindra Dhangekar, the MVA’s candidate and a former four-time corporator, pulled off a thumping win within the BJP citadel of Kasba Peth in “Old Pune”, defeating the BJP’s Hemant Rasane by over 11,000 votes. Mr. Dhangekar polled over 72,000 votes whereas Mr. Rasane might handle somewhat over 68,000.
However, the BJP managed to retain the Chinchwad Assembly phase, with its candidate Ashwini Jagtap — spouse of the late MLA Laxman Jagtap — coasting to victory with a strong margin of greater than 36,000 votes over her nearest rival, the MVA’s Nana Kate (from the Nationalist Congress Party).
Ms. Jagtap polled somewhat over 1.35 lakh votes whereas Mr. Kate polled over 99,000 votes. However, the BJP primarily managed to win Chinchwad owing to a three-way cut up in votes with ‘rebel’ Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Rahul Kalate, who contested as an impartial, queering the MVA’s pitch by securing 44,000 votes.
The two byelections, for which voting befell on February 26, had been necessitated following the current demise of sitting BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak (Kasba Peth) and Laxman Jagtap (Chinchwad).
According to some analysts, the altering demographics of the Kasba phase post-delimitation in 2009 and the BJP’s lack of a robust native chief like Girish Bapat — who had held the Kasba seat from 1995-2019 — because the trigger of the saffron get together’s defeat.
Remarking that the outcomes “sent out a strong message across Maharashtra”, Leader of Opposition and NCP chief Ajit Pawar mentioned that every one three MVA events (the NCP, the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction) had labored with “a united spirit” for the election marketing campaign.
“Despite the ruling BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena making use of every device to defeat Ravindra Dhangekar, he emerged triumphant and MVA won in a seat that had been the BJP’s stronghold for the last 28 years. A message has gone out in Maharashtra that if the three parties fight together and the seat-sharing is done properly, then nothing can stop the MVA from gaining success in future elections in Maharashtra. Moreover, the Shiv Sena cadre have expressed their anger at the manner in which Uddhav Thackeray was toppled from the CM’s post by voting against the Shinde-Fadnavis government in the Kasba bypoll,” mentioned Mr. Pawar.
The NCP chief additional noticed that the MVA would have received the Chinchwad seat as properly if Mr. Rahul Kalate (of the Thackeray Sena) had not contested as an Independent, thus splitting votes and undercutting possibilities of Mr. Nana Kate, the MVA’s candidate.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray mentioned that the BJP’s “use and throw” coverage had dearly price them within the bypolls. “First, they made use of the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal and then threw them overboard once these parties had served their purpose. They did the same with late [Goa CM] Manohar Parrikar’s son [Utpal Parrikar] when they denied him a ticket [in the 2022 Lok Sabha election]. Now, they denied a ticket to a member of the Tilak family in the Kasba Peth election.”
Mr. Thackeray claimed there was (*30*) inside the Tilak household in opposition to the BJP.
However, the late Ms. Tilak’s son – Kunal Tilak – denied such solutions.
Meanwhile, whereas acknowledging that the Kasba Peth defeat demanded introspection,
BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule dismissed the MVA’s elation over its win, remarking that “no BJP bastion had been breached.”
“This is not the MVA’s win, but a particular candidate’s victory. Ravindra Dhangekar had voter sympathy as he had lost a previous election. Today, the Congress is nowhere in the Assembly election results to the three northeastern states [Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya]. Why is the Congress and the MVA so jubilant about a single win in Kasba?” mentioned Mr. Bawankule.
A high-decibel marketing campaign had been mounted by prime BJP brass in addition to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Kasba, whereas the MVA leaders, too, strained each sinew within the run-up to the polls. Deputy Chief Minister and BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis visited Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad forward of the polls, and Mr. Shinde had held a large highway present in help of the BJP’s candidates.
