Last Update: March 02, 2023, 19:13 IST
In the bypoll, Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won by a margin of over 11,000 votes. (PTI)
Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won this election by a margin of over 11,000 votes. Losing the seat despite being in power is seen as a major setback for the CM Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis government.
Kasba Peth bypoll results This is a major setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lost its traditional seat in Maharashtra’s Pune to the Congress after nearly three decades.
Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won this election by a margin of over 11,000 votes. Despite being in power, losing the seat is being seen as a major setback for the CM Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis government.
Dhangekar took a lead over BJP’s Hemant Rasane from the first round itself and maintained it in every round. As per the final count, Dhangekar got 73,194 votes and his rival Rasane managed to get 62,244 votes.
However, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) lost the other bypoll seat – Chinchwad – to BJP’s Ashwini Jagtap. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Nana Kate lost by a margin of 6,000 votes.
Congress last won the town in 1991
The Congress last won the Kasba Peth seat in 1991, but in 1995 BJP leader and MP Girish Bapat won the seat by defeating the Congress candidate. In 2019, Girish Bapat won the Lok Sabha election and the ticket was given to another Brahmin candidate, Mukta Tilak, who won the election with a huge margin against the Congress.
Speaking to News18, Congress leader and former state minister in the MVA government, Vishwajit Kadam said, “It was a joint effort of all MVA parties. We have to give credit to Ravindra Dhangekar who has got a connect with the people in the constituency.
Kadam said: “Abuse of power has not gone down well with the common people.”
Another former minister in the MVA government and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said, “It is a very important victory not only for us, but also for democracy. It’s a big boost for MVA.”
Chinchwad Damage
On the loss in Chinchwad, Thackeray said, “One can blame anyone at this point, but look at the margin difference…”
As expected, MVA’s rebel candidate Rahul Kalate spoiled the game by getting 10,000 crucial votes on this seat.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Ajit Pawar said, “Till the last moment, we had two candidates, Nana Kate and Rahul Kalate. But in the MVA meeting everyone decides to give ticket to Kate instead of Kalate. In the 2019 elections, Kalate got more than one lakh votes with the support of Congress and NCP. Now he must have known where he stands, because this time he contested as an independent against the MVA. Had Kalate not contested, our candidate could have easily won this seat with a good margin.”
prestige issue
The bypolls have become a prestige issue for the MVA as well as the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Top leaders of both the parties campaigned extensively in these constituencies. But the trends of the by-polls are showing alarming signs for the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance ahead of the 2024 elections.
Reacting to the election results, BJP’s Ram Kadam said, “We win some and lose some in elections. This happens in politics. Winning is a big responsibility. We will definitely introspect why we lost the Kasba seat.
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