Maharashtra: BJP wins big in MLC polls, double whammy for MVA in Vidarbha

NAGPUR: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered its first major setback in Vidarbha since forming the government in Maharashtra in 2019. It lost both the Nagpur and Akola-Buldhana-Washim seats by crushing margins in the MLC local authority constituency biennial polls the results of which were announced on Tuesday.
Earlier, the BJP had lost the graduates’ constituency and zilla parishad polls and bypolls to the three-party coalition of MVA.
The BJP has won four out of six seats where elections were held on December 10. There were no polls for four seats after an unofficial pact between the rival factions. It included two seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) where BJP’s Rajhans Singh and Shiv Sen’s Sunil Shinde won. The Congress and BJP bagged one seat each at Kolhapur (minister of state Satej Patil) and Nandurbar-Dhule (Amrish Patel), respectively.
Though it was an expected win for the saffron party’s Chandrashekhar Bawankule, in Akola-Buldhana-Washim constituency, it pulled a coup of sorts by defeating Shiv Sena’s Gopikishan Bajoria, a three-time MLC, by a margin of 109 votes even though MVA constituents had over 400 out of the 822 voters.
As reported by TOI on December 12, Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) played a key role in ensuring BJP’s Vasant Khandelwal’s victory along with some independents. While Khandelwal secured 443 votes, Bajoria polled 334 out of the 808 valid votes.
This means that the BJP bagged a big number of 157 votes from the other parties that probably included 86 of VBA, 77 independents and a few from MVA constituents – Sena, NCP and Congress.
In Nagpur too, BJP received 44 votes from the three coalition partners and other parties in addition to its own tally of 318. The MVA backed independent Mangesh Deshmukh received 186 votes, while five were declared invalid. Former Congress candidate Ravindra Bhoyar, who was brought from the BJP, managed to get just one vote. On Friday, Bhoyar had told TOI that he toed the party line and voted for Deshmukh.
Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis hailed the twin victories of Bawankule and Khandewal stating that it was a ‘tight slap’ on the MVA partners’ faces. “Both these victories are special. It’s the result of the hard work of every karyakarta. With these victories by huge margins, once again, the BJP has proved its mettle in these MLC elections,” he tweeted.
Fadnavis was in the city to greet Bawankule and joined party workers in the celebrations. “Political arithmetic does not mean MVA’s three parties coming together to secure victories. In fact, it’s the political chemistry which worked for us,” he told the media.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole blamed BJP for “horse-trading” in the polls to secure wins. “They resorted to undemocratic tactics to win the polls which is their modus operandi. We, however, welcome the people’s mandate,” he said.
Bawankule, a three-time MLA who was denied a ticket for the 2019 assembly polls, thanked the party’s central and state parliamentary boards for reposing the faith in him. “It is indeed a big victory and I thank party leaders and workers, who supported me throughout. Even in Akola, the Shiv Sena won since last three terms just because they had the support of BJP. Now, after withdrawing from the saffron alliance, the voters there taught a befitting lesson to them.”
Denying speculations about him being upset over denial of ticket to him earlier, the former energy minister in Fadnavis cabinet added party had given him everything and never ditched him. “I was heading Vidarbha and Marathwada. For some reason, the party wanted me to work at the ground level and I obliged. No one is above party. Even if declined a ticket, the leaders should always follow party’s orders,” he said.