Controversial BJP candidate Shalan Shinde on Friday won the Solapur Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections this year from jail.
This has come as a major shock to the people of Maharashtra, as the BJP leader from the SMC's Ward 2—which falls in the northern part of the district—was recently arrested in connection with the murder of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) student leader Balasaheb Sarvade.
While some reports also say that Shinde won by about 4,000 votes, THE WEEK could not independently verify this information.
Ward 2 had originally been closely contested by Shinde, BJP MLA Vijaykumar Deshmukh's son Kiran Deshmukh, and the MNS student leader's sister-in-law, Rekha, among others, as per a Times of India report.
While Rekha had reportedly tried to get the BJP's ticket for Ward 2 at the start, she alleged that she was later forced to withdraw it.
This is because she claimed she had been threatened by Shinde and her family, which later led to an altercation with Balasaheb.
It was at this point that chilli powder was allegedly thrown into his eyes, and he was violently killed.
Balasaheb was cremated on January 3. Since then, Solapur's Joshi Galli area has remained on high alert, with increased police presence to prevent clashes between MNS and BJP party workers.
Earlier this month, political leaders led by Congress MP Praniti Shinde and former MLA Narsayya Adam also met police commissioner M. Rajkumar in connection with the case, who had said that the investigation was in its preliminary stages, and that all past events would be dug up and collated to check for possible links.