Landslide win for Bawankule in MLC polls

 

 

AS EXPECTED, Chandrashekhar Bawankule of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) romped home in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections from Nagpur with a resounding margin of votes. Bawankule secured almost twice more votes than his nearest opponent in the fray. He secured 362 votes while his opponent, independent candidate Mangesh Deshmukh whom Congress had declared support in a last minute development, could garner 186 votes. Dr Ravindra alias Chhotu Bhoyar, who was official candidate of Congress, could secure only one vote. Counting of votes took place at Bachat Bhavan in the Collectorate. Election Observer Dr Madhavi Khode-Chavre, Collector and Returning Officer Vimala R. monitored the counting process.

 

 

The Strong Room was opened in the presence of candidates’ representatives early Tuesday morning. Counting of votes was done at four tables after the process of assembling the ballot papers. Out of 554 votes, 549 were valid and five were invalid. Therefore, a quota of 275 votes was fixed for victory. In the first preference vote count, Chandrashekhar Bawankule got 362 votes which are much more than the votes of quota. Receiving definite votes for victory in the first round, Bawankule was declared the winner. Dr Madhavi Khode-Chavre, Vimala R. handed over the certificate of victory to Bawankule. Bawankule’s victory rally BJP workers and Bawankule’s supporters took out a victory rally after Collector announced the result. Bawankule was showered with flowers and hailed with victory slogans by his supporters. The rally began from the Collectorate and reached Swagat Lawn where he was welcomed by party volunteers.

 

The rally then reached the statue of Bakht Buland Shah near Vidhan Bhavan. It further moved towards Samvidhan Square where respects were paid to Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. MLAs Krishna Khopde, Sameer Meghe, Mohan Mate, Vikas Kumbhare, Tekchand Savarkar, Founder President of Bahujan Republic Ekta Manch Adv Sulekha Kumbhare, former MLA Dr Milind Mane, Sudhakar Deshmukh, MLC Girish Vyas, MLC Pravin Datke, Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari, Arvind Gajbhiye, former Mayor Sandip Joshi, former MLC Anil Sole, Ruling Party leader in NMC Avinash Thakre, Chairperson of Law Committee of NMC Adv Dharmpal Meshram, Chairman of Water Resources Committee in NMC Sandip Gavai, Dr Rajiv Potdar, former President of BJP (rural), Avinash Khalatkar, General Secretary of BJP (rural), Rajendra Sayare and others were present in the rally. Gadkari congratulates Bawankule and Khandelwal Union Minister Nitin Gadkari congratulated Bawankule for victory in Nagpur MLC polls and Vasantbhai Khandelwal from Akola constituency on phone.

 

After receiving certificate, Bawankule went to Gadkari’s residence where Kanchan Gadkari congratulated him. He was accompanied by Dr Rajiv Potdar, Sanket Bawankule and Vikas Totade. BJP proved its mettle: Fadnavis Senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hailed his party’s victory in Nagpur and Akola in the state legislative council elections. “Both these victories are special and results of hard work of every karyakarta. With these victories from Nagpur and Akola by great margins, once again, BJP in Maharashtra has proved its mettle,” Fadnavis tweeted. “My happiness knows no bounds. For me the joy of Bawankule’s victory is more than the happiness I experienced when I won my own election two years ago,” he said. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Fadnavis criticised the Mahavikas Aghadi Government. “This victory has made it clear that victories are possible despite the three parties coming together.

 

This victory is a slap on the face of Mahavikas Aghadi. “The BJP has won four of the six seats in the Legislative Council. The people of the State supported the BJP and we will continue to be blessed in the future. The victory of Bawankule is a harbinger of future victories,” Fadnavis added. Our candidate was poor: Nana Patole “Our candidate was poor but BJP candidate was financially strong. Even though Bawankule had more than 90 votes, all the voters had to be taken away at a secret place. That underlines the fear factor we brought in. We welcome the result but in the coming general elections, people would defeat the BJP,” said Nana Patole, MPCC President. We will introspect on the defeat: Atul Londhe Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary and chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “We accept the verdict. The party would introspect the defeat. There was not much difference in votes though. Our candidate was poor as compared to the BJP’s man. Despite having 90 votes more than us, BJP took their voters out of Nagpur. It is a moral defeat for the BJP.” Ideological bankruptcy in MPCC leadership: Pravin Kunte “Ideological bankruptcy of the Pradesh Congress leadership, lack of planning and coordination and horse trading resulted into the victory of BJP. Instead of criticising our own ally, had Congress focused on this election and on its candidate, it would have won the election,” lambasted Pravin Kunte, Spokesperson, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) State unit.

 

MVA was never united: Datke “Mahavikas Aaghadi was never united, which is evident from the fact that our candidate Bawankule got our own votes plus he also clinched 44 votes of the opposition. We were sure of the victory and we have again shown that people are with us,” said Pravin Datke, President of City unit of BJP. Every voter supported: Arvind Gajbhiye Arvind Gajbhiye, President of Nagpur BJP (rural) pointed out, “Every voter fully supported Bawankule. If you see the number of votes secured by BJP, you would realise that we got 44 more votes which means we got full support from the voters.” It is moral defeat for BJP: Mulak and Thakre Rajendra Mulak, President, Nagpur District Congress Committee and Vikas Thakre, President, City Congress Committee termed the verdict in the MLC polls as a moral defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They said, “Demanding the resignation of Nana Patole is foolishness. BJP too tasted defeat in Zilla Parishad and Graduate Constituency polls but we did not demand the resignation of Gadkari or Fadnavis. Despite having good number of voters on their side, BJP had to take them away from the city. This was a moral defeat for BJP.”

 

 

Defeating three times sitting MLC Gopikisan Bajoriya, Bharatiya Janata Party has once again proved its might in the legislative council constituency in Amravati Division. Party’s candidate noted businessman Vasant Madanlal Khandelwal won the Local Authorities Constituency. Polling for the Akola-Washim-Bulana Local Authorities Constituency was held on December 10. The counting of votes began on Tuesday at 8 am at the godwon in the premises of Collector office. Election Observer and Director of Information Dr Dilip Pandharpatte was chiefly present on the occasion. Five tables were arranged for the counting. RDC and Assistant Returning Officer Sanjay Khadse, RDC Buldana Dinesh Gite, RDC Washim Shailesh Hinge, Dy Returning Officer Mukesh Chavan, Dy Collector Sadashiv Shelar SDO Dr Nilesh Apar, SDO Akot Shrikant Deshpande were present on the occasion. Total 808 voters had cast their votes out of 822 voters. Total 31 votes were found invalid while 777 votes were found valid. Bharatiya Janata Party contestant Vasant Khandelwal got 443 votes while his rival Shivsena-Cong NCP candidate Gopikisan Bajoriya received 334 votes.

 

Khandelwal won with 109 votes in the first and only round of counting. Collector and Returning Officer Nima Arora declared the result after the conting of votes. Vasant Khandelwal is son of senior BJP leader Madanlalji Khandelwal and nephew of Late Kakaji Khandelwal. He is very close to Union Minister senior party leader Nitin Gadkari. Gopikisan Bajoriya had represented this constituency since 2003. He had chances to win as the combined Shivsena Cong NCP vote count was 396. The number of voters in the constituency was 822. They include 368 from Buldana, 285 from Akola and 169 from ashim district. The party wise break-up was BJP 244 voters, followed by Congress with 190 voters and Shivsena with 130 voters and Rashtrawadi Congress 76 voters. Wanchit Bahujan Agahadi had 75 voters while 171 voters were Independents. With the advantage of 244 united votes of the party Khandelwal was received response from other parties including Wanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Independents.