In Maharashtra, the results of two assembly seats Kasba and Chinchwad came out. In which despite being in power, BJP could not save its 28 years old fort (town seat). However, in Chinchwad, the BJP registered a victory once again. The Kasba Peth seat was held by the BJP since 1995. Where Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar registered an unexpected victory.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to retain the seat from its bastion Pune and its candidate Hemant Rasane lost. Girish Bapat, the sitting BJP MP from Pune, had represented the seat five times till 2019.
Dhangekar, a candidate supported by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), managed to breach the BJP stronghold. In Kasba seat, Ravindra Dhangekar got 73,194 votes while BJP’s Hemant Rasne got 62,224 votes.
The Congress victory in Kasba Peth is significant as it was the first direct contest between the ruling BJP-led Eknath Shinde and the opposition MVA after the state government change in June last year. After the result was declared, Dhangekar said that it is a victory of the people. The day I filed my nomination papers, the people of Kasba Peth area had decided to make me win.
On the other hand, BJP candidate Rasane accepted the defeat and said that he will brainstorm on where and how he made a mistake. Congratulating the voters of Kasba Peth for this historic victory of the party and the MVA, Congress State Vice President Mohan Joshi said that this is the victory of all the MVA workers who fought this election with full solidarity. This election has shown that money power cannot work.
The Shinde-Fadnavis alliance worked hard to win both the seats. The by-election was held at Kasba Peth due to the death of BJP MLA Mukta Tilak. On the other hand, due to the death of BJP’s Laxman Jagtap in Chinchwad seat, the by-election was held. Voting was held for the by-elections on both the seats on February 26. The BJP won the Chinchwad seat.
Ravindra Dhangekar comes from OBC society. Also, they have a political existence of their own in the region. In 2009, he had given a tough fight to BJP’s Girish Bapat on MNS ticket. At that time Bapat had won that election by only seven thousand votes. Prior to this, he has been a local councilor many times. He contested the election in the year 2014 but could not win. Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had brought Dhangekar to the Congress in the year 2017 but he could not get a ticket in the 2019 elections.
