MUMBAI: The major blow to the BJP in Maharashtra, after 30 years was candidate Hemant Rasane losing the by-elections in its own bastion Kasba Peth against Congress candidate Ravindra Dhanghekar by 11,200 votes on Thursday.
The sigh of relief for the BJP was successfully retaining the Chinchwad seat in by-elections. BJP candidate Ashwini Jagtap with 1,35,434 votes (46.5%) won against the NCP candidate Nana Kate with 99,344 (35.56%) votes whereas Shiv Sena (UBT) rebel Rahul Kalate bagged a total of 44082 votes (15.15%) votes. This by-election was necessitated after the demise of Ashwini Jagtap’s husband BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap.
Congress candidate Ravindra Dhanghekar in the straight received 73,309 (52.98%) votes against BJP candidate Hemant Rasane who bagged a total of 62394 (45.09%) votes.
Kasba Peth elections were significant in many ways as it was the first election after MVA led by Uddhav Thackeray lost power in Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray also lost his father-founded party name and symbol against his bête noire Eknath Shinde.
Prashant Ahir, a local journalist from Pune said that from day one, BJP lost the perception battle in Kasba against Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar over choosing the right candidate and pacifying the relatives of deceased MLA Mukta Tilak.
“BJP made multiple goofs in Kasba Peth. They chose the wrong candidate, then they tried to give the religious colour to multicultural and multi-religion Kasba-like constituencies. It is like mini India, where Brahmins are 13 per cent while OBC is 23 per cent and Muslims are a sizable 17 per cent. Girish Bapat who was a five-time MLA is Brahmin by caste but never conducted himself as an upper caste person so the lower strata of the society also voted for him significantly. Therefore he retained the seat for a long time. BJP then brought its dozen ministers and even its state president was camped for the last 10 days along with guardian minister Chandrakant Patil. Even Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief minister Eknath Shinde tried last in the last three days, but things were slipping from BJP’s hand with every passing day,” Ahir said.
“On the other hand, Congress candidates reached out to every household and presented themselves as people's candidate. Besides, MVA really put a united face against the BJP candidate. All leaders who campaigned in Kasba Peth by-elections and the motormouths are kept away from the campaign so there should not be any controversy. BJP used all resources and funds but that backfired,” said a political observer.
He said that due to last-minute efforts of CM Eknath Shinde and DCM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP put up a decent fight in Kasba Peth, otherwise, since the beginning, it was a one-sided election for the Congress candidate.