Maharashtra Assembly Elections Results 2019: 11 Congress-NCP Defectors Bite Dust, List of Turncoats Who Won or Lost Polls
There were 23 candidates in the fray for assembly elections in Maharashtra who jumped ship and either joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Shiv Sena ahead of the October 21 polls. However, nearly half of them tasted defeat.
Mumbai, October 25: There were 23 candidates in the fray for assembly elections in Maharashtra who jumped ship and either joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Shiv Sena ahead of the October 21 polls. However, nearly half of them tasted defeat when counting of votes took place on October 24. As many as 11 politicians, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, dumping Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of assembly elections, lost from their respective constituencies. Haryana, Maharashtra Results Infuse Life into a Declining Congress.
Former minister and Congress turncoat Harshvardhan Patil, fighting on BJP's ticket, lost assembly election from his home turf, Indapur, to the NCP's Duttatray Bharane. Another Congress defector, Gopaldas Agrawal failed to retain his Gondia seat as BJP candidate this time. Two MLAs who had joined the Shiv Sena before the polls, namely, Pandurang Barora and Nirmala Gavit, also lost the elections from Shahapur and Igatpuri, respectively. Barora was an NCP MLA and Gavit a Congress legislator. Maharashtra Government Formation: Congress Keeps Doors Open For Shiv Sena to Form Anti-BJP Alliance.
Jaydutt Kshirsagar, who joined the Shiv Sena before polls, was defeated by his nephew and NCP candidate Sandip Kshirsagar. Vaibhav Pichad, son of former NCP minister Madhukar Pichad, had joined the BJP few days before the election. He lost to Dr Kiran Lahamate of the NCP from Akole. Notably, Lahamate too had dumped the BJP and joined the NCP before polls. The electorate also rejected NCP turncoat Dilip Sopal who contested polls as a Shiv Sena candidate from Barshi.
The most embarrassing defeat for the BJP came from Satara where a by-election was held to a Lok Sabha constituency. Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, was a two-time NCP MP from Satara parliamentary seat, but had resigned from the party to join the BJP ahead of the state polls, necessitating the by-elections in the constituency. However, he was defeated by NCP’s Srinivas Patil by 87,717 votes.
There were others who succeeded in winning elections after joining the ruling BJp-Shiv Sena coalition. Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who joined the BJP and was made cabinet minister, won from Shirdi. NCP leader Ganesh Naik, who joined the BJP, was elected from Airoli, defeating NCP's Ganesh Shinde by 57,622 votes. Ranajagjitsinh Patil, a nephew of NCP leader Ajit Pawar, had joined the BJP ahead of polls and won from Tuljapur.
Namita Mundada joined the BJP despite the NCP announcing her candidature. She defeated NCP's Pruthviraj Sathe in Kaij. One of the most controversial leaders to join the BJP was Nitesh Rane, who won from Kankavli even when there was a candidate of the Shiv Sena in the fray. Former Congress leader Jaykumar Gore won from Mann on BJP ticket. NCP's Shivendrasinh Bhosale won from Satara-Jawli on BJP ticket. Ravisheth Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party had joined the BJP and was elected from Pen.
NCP leader Rahul Narvekar won from Colaba and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar won from Wadala, both on BJP ticket. Congress MLA Kashiram Pawara won on BJP ticket this time from Shirpur, while Abdul Sattar who crossed over from the Congress to the Shiv Sena won from Sillod.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 25, 2019 08:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).