PUNE: In a giant-killing act, BJP’s Atul Bhosale brought to a halt former CM Prithviraj Chavan’s winning streak in Karad South constituency by a margin of nearly 40,000 votes. Chavan, a veteran Congress functionary, received 1,00,150 votes while Bhosale polled 1,39,505 votes.
Bhosale was defeated in the last three elections by Chavan but hectic campaigning by union home minister Amit Shah likely helped his cause this time.
In Jalna district’s Ghansawangi, sitting MLA and former cabinet minister Rajesh Tope of NCP (SP) lost to Hikmat Udhan of Shiv Sena. Tope had won three consecutive terms from this seat. Udhan, who was previously with Shiv Sena, had joined Eknath Shinde’s camp before the election.
In Latur rural, sitting Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh, the youngest son of late chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, lost to MLC Ramesh Karad of BJP. Karad received 1,12,051 votes while Deshmukh got 1,05,456 votes. Karad had unsuccessfully contested assembly polls from Latur rural in 2009 and 2014. He was nominated by BJP to the upper house of the State Legislature in 2020. Notably, Deshmukh had won the last assembly poll by a margin of over one lakh votes.
In north Maharashtra, three political heavyweights – Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat from Sangamner, state Congress working president Kunal Patil from Dhule rural and former tribal welfare minister KC Padavi – suffered losses.
Two of these defeats were handed by debutants. In Sangamner, BJP’s Amol Khatal, who ran an internet cafe and was a political unknown before the polls, beat Thorat by a margin of 10,560 votes. Thorat, who hoped for a ninth straight win from the seat, secured 1,01,826 votes.
In Dhule rural, debutant Raghavendra Bhadane-Patil of BJP beat Kunal Patil by a margin of more than 66,000 votes. Raghavendra is the son of Dnyanjyoti Bhadane-Patil and Dattatraya Bhadane-Patil who were defeated by Kunal Patil in the 2019 and 2014 assembly elections, respectively. BJP leadership in the region said their choice of a new face for the polls worked.
“The plan to pick Raghavendra was welcomed by party workers here. We managed to end our losing streak,” said Gajendra Ampalkar, BJP rural unit president.