Mumbai: Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency, it is only face saving for the party where it managed to retain its Lok Sabha seat. BJP’s candidate Rajendra Gavit received 2,72,782 votes and won the seat by 29,572 votes, defeating Shiv Sena’s Shrinivas Wanga who received 2,43,210 votes.
However, BJP’s victory is not satisfactory for the party’s votes fell from 5,33,201 in 2014 general election to 2,72,782 in 2018 by-poll, which indicates that the BJP’s downfall began or they are losing mandate in Palghar after the death of Chintaman Wanga.
There was a clearcut division of anti-BJP votes, which helped the ruling BJP get victory in Palghar. Local Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by MLA Hitendra Thakur fetched 2,22,838 votes while Communist Party of India (Marxist) won 71,887 votes, surpassing Congress which won 47,714 votes only.
According to the Shiv Sena leader, BVA has a stronghold in urban areas like Vasai, Virar, Palghar and others and these votes couldn’t go to Shiv Sena, and the Shiv Sena’s voting percentage went down. Even though there was low turnout in urban areas, it helped BJP. The BJP has a good hold in the tribal belt of the constituency.
Wanga’s son Shrinivas was the Shiv Sena candidate, imported from BJP. He was disgruntled after the BJP didn’t show any interest to offer him a ticket and he joined Shiv Sena. In a hurry, BJP imported a candidate from Congress in the form of Rajendra Gavit.
Uddhav Thackeray said, “Shiv Sena was contesting for the first time from Palghar and it was a good show. But even after winning, BJP lost the seat,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress has turned out to be the biggest loser in Palghar Lok Sabha by-poll as their candidate Damu Shingda could fetch only 47,714 votes.
