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Ambedkar's party dented Cong-NCP in Maharashtra

May 24, 2019 14:52 IST

The result was so disastrous for the Congress and the NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com reports.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, led by Prakash Ambedkar, in alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, proved to be a gamechanger for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena combine in a handful of seats across Maharashtra.

Thanks to the VBA, the Congress and its allies lost at least seven seats in Maharashtra.

The VBA won a single seat in the state, Aurangabad, but played a decisive role in defeating the Congress-NCP in Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Akola, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Solapur and Hatkanangale.

Journalist-turned-politician Imtiaz Jaleel won the Aurangabad seat by 4,492 votes while the Congress candidate was pushed to fourth position.

Before the polls, Ambedkar had been sending feelers to the Congress and the NCP for a tie-up. But the United Progressive Alliance partners did not show any interest.

After losing the election in the state, many Congress and NCP leaders have said that Ambedkar demanded a hefty 12 seats (Maharashtra has 48 MPs), which was too much.

However, VBA leaders have denied the claim.

In the election, former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde lost to the BJP's Swami Siddheshwar Shivacharya by 156,000 votes in Solapur, where Ambedkar was himself in the fray and polled 168,694 votes.

In Nanded, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan suffered a defeat by 42,000 votes, while the VBA's Yashpal Bhinge polled over 164,000 votes.

 

BJP President Amit Anilchandra Shah played a masterstroke by stitching an alliance with sulking National Democratic Alliance partner, Shiv Sena, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Just like in Bihar, where Shah gave five sitting BJP MP seats to the Janata Dal-United to save the alliance with Nitish Kumar, in Maharashtra he agreed to the Sena's demand for more seats than it contested in 2014 (20 seats).

Shah agreed, and the Sena got 24 seats this time.

At the end of the day, the BJP-Shiv Sena won 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra while the Congress won one and the NCP four seats.

The numbers could have been different had the VBA been accommodated by the latter.

Constituency Candidate/Party Total Votes
Nanded Prataprao Patil Chikhalikar/BJP 486806
Ashok Shankarrao Chavan/INC 446658
Losing Margin 40,148
Narsingrao Yashpal Bhinge/VBA 166,196
Solapur Dr Jai Sidheshwar Shivachary Mahaswamiji/BJP 524,985
Sushilkumar Sambhajirao Shinde/INC 366,377
Losing Margin 158,608
Prakash Yashvant Ambedkar/VBA 170,007
Hatkanangle Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane/Shiv Sena 585,776
Raju Anna Shetti/Swabhimani Paksha 489,737
Losing Margin 96,039
Aslam Badshahaji Sayyad/VBA 123,419
Sangli Sanjaykaka Patil/BJP 508,995
Vishal Prakashbapu Patil/Swabhimani Paksha 344,643
Losing Margin 164,352
Gopichand Kundlik Padalkar/VBA 300,234
Buldhana Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav/Shiv Sena 521,977
Dr Rajendra Bhaskarrav Shingne/INC 388,690
Losing Margin 133,287
Siraskar Baliram Bhagwan/VBA 172,627
Parbhani Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav/Shiv Sena 538,941
Rajesh Uttamrao Vitekar/INC 496,742
Losing Margin 42,199
Alamgir Mohammad Khan/VBA 149,946
Gadchiroli-Chimur Ashok Mahadeorao Nete/BJP 519,968
Dr Namdeo Dalluji Usendi/INC 442,442
Losing Margin 77,526
Dr Rameshkumar Baburaoji Gajbe/VBA 111,468
SYED FIRDAUS ASHRAF in Mumbai