Maharashtra Lok Sabha bypolls: BJP leads in Palghar, NCP ahead in Bhandara-Gondiya

The ruling BJP was today staring at defeat in the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency but appeared set to retain the Palghar parliamentary seat, according to the latest trends available in the Maharashtra bypolls.

In Bhandara-Gondiya seat, which the BJP had won in the 2014 elections, the NCP’s Madhukar Kukade has established a lead of 16,112 votes over the BJP’s Hemant Patle. After 10 rounds of counting, Kukade polled 173856 votes while the BJP’s Hemant Patle bagged 157744 votes.

The bypoll in this constituency had been necessitated because BJP MP Nana Patole had quit the Lok Sabha membership as well as the party after publicly criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of functioning. Later, he joined the Congress party, with which he had been associated earlier.

In Palghar, the BJP looked set to retain the seat where it faced a challenge from its own ally Shiv Sena. At the end of 23 rounds of counting, BJP’s Rajendra Gavit was leading over his Shiv Sena rival by 25,645 votes. Gavit polled 2,57,506 votes while Shriniwas Wanaga of the Shiv Sena bagged 2,31,861 votes. Baliram Jadhav of the Bahujan Vikas Agadhi got 2,00,244 votes, CPI-M candidate Kiran Gahla polled 70,826 votes while Congress nominee Damodar Shingda got 46,079 votes.

The BJP had made the Palghar bypoll a matter of prestige as the Shiv Sena fielded Shriniwas Wanaga, son of former BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga, whose death necessitated the by-election. Gavit was in the Congress before joining the BJP and had been a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government.

Palghar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, is a Scheduled Tribe reserved constituency. “Winning or losing is not as much important as taking forward the good work done by my father,” said Wanaga as the trends showed him losing. “We will rectify our mistakes and I am confident we will win the election in 2019,” he told reporters here. He said that the BJP had used all possible means to win the elections.

Gavit attributed his success to those known and unknown persons who had helped him in this election. He said that the RPI and the Shramajivi Sanghatana had worked for him. Talking to reporters, he said his work in the district during his tenure as a minister of state and resolving various issues had been helpful to him.

Meanwhile, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting of senior party leaders later today in view of the apparent loss in Palghar.

NCP leader Nawab Malik told PTI that the Congress should have supported Jadhav of Bahujan Vikas Agadhi and ensured that the CPI-M did not field its candidate. He noted that the Congress had supported Jadhav in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections against Chintaman Wanaga of the BJP. “We had discussed this with the Congress. But, the party’s leader from the region Rajendra Gavit switched over to the BJP and the former MP Shingda was not in the contest at all,” Malik said. The Congress and the NCP had joined hands to take on the BJP in both the seats

Women line up to cast their vote at Kasgad village near Vikramgad in Palghar district on May 28, 2018.

The polling, held on Monday, was marred by allegations of malfunctioning in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines. Following the Election Commission’s order, re-polling was yesterday held at 49 booths in five of the six Assembly segments in Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency. However, no re-polling was ordered in the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency.

While 53.22 per cent of the 1.73 crore electorate exercised their franchise in Palghar, in Bhandara-Gondiya, 53.15 per cent of the total 1.76 crore voters cast their votes on Monday. Besides, an estimated 45 per cent voters cast their votes in the repolling yesterday at 49 booths in Bhandara- Gondiya till 5 pm, an election official said.

The by-election in Palghar was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The Bhandara-Gondiya seat was vacated after BJP’s Nana Patole resigned from the party and quit his Lok Sabha membership. As many as 25 candidates were in the fray for the two seats - 18 in Bhandara-Gondiya and seven in Palghar.

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