Maharashtra bypolls: BJP loses Kasba Assembly seat to Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party BJP on Thursday failed to retain Kasba Peth Assembly seat its stronghold in Maharashtras Pune district as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party nominee Hemant Rasane in the bypollThe BJP was in power in Kasba Peth constituency for 28 years Girish Bapat the current BJP MP from Pune represented the seat five times till 2019This time Dhangekar having support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Nationalist Congress Party Congress and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray managed to breach the BJPs strongholdDhangekar polled 73194 votes while Rasane received 62244 votes as per figures on the Election Commissions website after the final round of countingIn 2019 BJPs Mukta Tilak had won the seat She died after battling cancer in December 2022 which necessitated the byelection in the constituency located in the old area of Pune cityThe victory of Congress in Kasba is significant as it was the first direct contest between the ruling BJPEknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and the opposing MVA after the change of the state government in June last yearAlso Read Maha Assembly Patole claims Congs victory in Kasba bypoll Fadnavis says both BJP Cong need to introspectThis is peoples victory The day I filled the nomination form people of Kasba Peth constituency decided to make me victorious said an elated Dhangekar who was seen being carried by Congress workers on their shoulders outside the votes counting centre here after the result was declaredBJPs Rasane while conceding defeat said he as a candidate failed in this election and will introspect what went wrong and whereEarlier it used to be a triangular contest but this time it was a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress he saidCongress state vice president Mohan Joshi congratulated the Kasba Peth voters for handing over such a historical win to the party and the MVAThis is the victory of all the MVA workers who fought this election with great unity This election has shown that money power cannot work he saidDuring the campaigning the Congress and other MVA constituents had levelled allegations against the BJP of luring voters with the help of money a charge denied by the saffron partyAs the bypolls to Kasba and Chinchwad seats in Pune had become an issue of prestige for the MVA as well as the ruling ShindeBJP coalition in the state big leaders like NCP president Sharad Pawar Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis campaigned for their respective candidatesThe Congress and MVA had criticised the BJP for forcing its Lok Sabha member Girish Bapat who is ailing to campaign during the electionLast month Bapat had briefly addressed the party workers while sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a nasal cannulaThere was a perception that since the BJP did not give ticket to any family member of Tilak the Brahmin voters having a sizable number in the constituency were unhappy But the BJP had claimed Brahmins were with themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever