This story is from May 24, 2019

Lok Sabha elections: Ashok Chavan lost Nanded to 15-year jinx, say party workers

Former chief minister and state Congress chief Ashok Chavan lost the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Marathwada to what some party workers called “a 15-year jinx”. Party workers told TOI that Congress has lost the seat every 15 years or so.
Lok Sabha elections: Ashok Chavan lost Nanded to 15-year jinx, say party workers
Ashok Chavan
AURANGABAD/MUMBAI: Former chief minister and state Congress chief Ashok Chavan lost the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Marathwada to what some party workers called “a 15-year jinx”. Party workers told TOI that Congress has lost the seat every 15 years or so.
Since the first general elections of independent India in 1951, the party has lost Nanded only three times—in 1977, after 12 years in 1989, then in 2004 and now.

Chavan was defeated by BJP’s Pratap Patil Chikhalikar, who said on Thursday that the people of Nanded had not voted for him but for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the final round, when 10.5 lakh of 11.2 lakh votes were counted, Chikhalikar had already established a lead of roughly 33,000. This time, Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi nominee Yashpal Bhinge played a spoiler for Chavan by bagging 1.6 lakh votes.
Not tying up with VBA has cost Congress. Chavan told TOI: “We accept the defeat gracefully and it is time for self-introspection for all of us. Despite BJP’s dismal performance in government, we lost. In our opinion, Ambedkar has played into BJP’s hands.”
Chavan said the Congress-NCP combine had initiated dialogue with Ambedkar for a seat-sharing formula which the latter did not agree to since he had a “tacit understanding” with the BJP. “We made all possible efforts for an alliance with secular parties but did not succeed. I won’t quit the party despite the defeat. We will work hard for the upcoming state assembly elections,” he said.

Nanded, which had resisted the 2014 Modi wave, has for long been a Congress stronghold. Therefore, the party was confident that Chavan, son of former Union home minister late Shankarrao Chavan, would retain the bastion.
A Congress worker in Nanded said despite an unchallenged control over Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation, Chavan could not hold on to the party’s traditional vote bank, which drifted to VBA.
Ubaid Ba Hussain, a social activist, said Congress should do some serious introspection on its policy of treating the minorities.
Chikhalikar, who won the 2014 assembly polls as a Shiv Sena candidate, grew close to the BJP a few years ago. The two-time MLA was hopeful of making it to the state cabinet as a junior minister but the induction of Jalna MLA Arjun Khotkar created differences between Chikhalikar and the top- Shiv Sena brass. The Congress had swept the Nanded municipal council polls in October 2017, winning as many as 73 of the 81 seats. BJP won just six seats while the Shiv Sena managed to win one.
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