Byelections for the Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seats are a crucial test for Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the BJP's majority in Parliament depends on the results of these two seats. If Fadnavis fails to win these two seats, the BJP's own tally in Parliament will go below the 272-seat mark. Elections for both Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya seats will be held on May 28; counting of votes will be on May 31.
The byelection for Palghar was announced after BJP MP Chintaman Wanga died a few weeks ago.
Palghar seat is reserved for scheduled tribes and Wanga, a BJP veteran from Maharashtra, was a popular MP. The BJP was not keen to give the ticket to his son Shriniwas. Sensing this, Wanga's wife and son met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and joined the Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena has now fielded Shriniwas Wanga from Palghar.
Speaking to a gathering of tribals in Vikramgad Assembly segment on Wednesday, Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena was forced to contest the election as BJP had abandoned Wanga's family. “During his lifetime, Chintaman Wanga stood firmly by the BJP. He spread the party in the tribal belt in Maharashtra. Had BJP given ticket to Shriniwas, I would have come to campaign for him,” said Thackeray.
With Shriniwas joining the Shiv Sena, the BJP went ahead to 'import' former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit. Gavit had been unhappy in the Congress for some time and was looking for greener pastures elsewhere. He is now BJP's candidate in Palghar.
Congress has fielded former MP Damu Shingda as it candidate. A veteran Congressman, Shingda is also the richest among the candidates contesting Palghar bypoll.
Palghar is witnessing a multi-cornered contest as two more important candidates are in the fray. Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded Kiran Gahala and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi has fielded Baliram Jadhav. While Gahala is relying on the strong communist network in Talasari, Dahanu and Jawhar-Mokhada belt, Jadhav has blessings of Vasai legislator Hitendra Thakur. BVA has won three Assembly segments in Palghar Lok Sabha constituency at the time of 2014 Assembly elections. BVA has strong presence in the urban belts of Vasai, Nala Sopara and Virar.
The BJP is campaigning very hard and is leaving no stone unturned to spread the message that Shiv Sena, its ally in the Maharashtra government, snatched away the Wanga family from BJP. The BJP also roped in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to attract the sizeable number of north Indian votes in Palghar constituency. Fadnavis has asked party workers to take the election very seriously as the crucial sympathy factor is with Shriniwas.
Situated more than 1,000km away from Palghar is Bhandara-Gondiya parliament constituency. It is the easternmost constituency in Maharashtra, bordering Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The Bhandara-Gondiya bypoll was necessitated after MP Nana Patole resigned from BJP and returned to the Congress.
This constituency has been considered as a bastion of senior NCP leader and former civil aviation minister Praful Patel. Patole had defeated Patel in the 2014 general elections at the time of the 'Modi wave'.
The majority of the voters in the constituency belong to Kunbi community. There are over 4 lakh Kunbi voters, followed by Powars and Telis, who are around 2.5 lakh each. As the seat has traditionally been held by the NCP, Patole did not get a chance to contest again after returning to Congress. He has now declared a truce with Patel and both of them are busy campaigning for NCP candidate Madhukar Kukade. Kukade happens to be a Kunbi by caste and his community is backing him strongly.
The BJP candidate in Bhandara-Gondiya is Hemant Patle. He is an OBC and is banking on strong support from Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Gadkari is taking a keen interest in the Bhandara-Gondiya bypoll. Local BJP legislator Parinay Fuke, who is very close to Fadnavis, is performing the role of constituency manager and is minutely working on caste combinations.
Interestingly, Shiv Sena had fielded its candidate in Bhandara-Gondiya but withdrew from the race as large number of Shiv Sainiks, including the district chief, quit the party to join the BJP.
Overall, the contest in Bhandara-Gondiya is essentially between the Fadnavis-Gadkari duo on one hand and Patel-Patole on the other.