With much at stake for the BJP and Congress in Maharashtra’s Kasba Peth Assembly bypolls, the two main political parties are all set to reach out to other candidates to ask them to withdraw from the fray. The move, party leaders have said, will help avoid the division of votes as rebel candidates and those from other parties are likely to have an adverse impact on the performance of their nominees. The last day of withdrawal is February 10.
The Kasba Assembly constituency has been a bastion of the BJP for a long time. In 2019, BJP candidate Mukta Tilak, a member of the family of freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak, won the seat. It was her demise in December last year that the seat was vacated, necessitating the bypoll in Kasba.
However, the BJP refused a ticket to two of her family members and the family expressed disappointment over it but decided to work for the party. The decision of the BJP to field Hemant Rasane, a non-Brahmin, has further added to the disappointment of the community.
Anand Dave of the Hindu Mahasangh has filed his nomination for the Kasba bypoll, saying the candidates of the BJP and Congress have failed to ensure the area’s development despite being elected as corporators of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) multiple times.
“These were two of the 21 Assembly constituencies in the Pune district that had elected Brahmin community members as the legislators. They were efficiently raising the issues faced by the Brahmin community but in 2019, the BJP denied a ticket to a sitting legislator of the Brahmin community in the Kothrud Assembly seat and now the same is done in the bypoll of the Kasba Assembly seat. This is an injustice to the Tilak family and the Brahmin community,” said Dave, who has been raising issues related to the injustice to the Brahmin community.
On the other hand, the Congress party has fielded Ravindra Dhangekar, who had shifted to the party from the MNS in 2017. This has led its city unit vice-president Balasaheb Dabhekar to file his nomination as an Independent candidate after being denied the ticket by the party.
“The party will urge Dabhekar to withdraw his nomination. Senior party leaders will talk to him to ensure there is no division of votes at a time when the official Congress candidate stands a good chance of winning the election,” said a Congress leader.
Avinash Mohite of the Sambhaji Brigade has also filed his nomination which would mainly impact the prospect of Congress candidate Dhangekar. Congress leaders said Mohite will also be requested to withdraw his nomination.
The Kasba bypoll will be held along with that in Chinchwad on February 26 and the votes will be counted on March 2.
