Despite claims, BJP has pitted candidates against family members of deceased MLAs in Maharashtra bypolls

After the death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Bharat Bhalke from Pandharpur, the NCP had given ticket to his son Bhagirath Bhalke, while the BJP fielded Samadhan Autade. In a tightly contested election, Autade won the seat by a margin of 3,700 votes.

In Nanded district, after the death of Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar, the party fielded his son Jitesh Antapurkar. BJP fielded former Shiv Sena MLA Subhash Sabne to contest against him in Deglur. In an election which had become a prestige issue for the former CM and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan, Antapurkar won by more than 41,000 votes.

Lastly, in Kolhapur north after the death of Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav, the party had fielded his wife Jayashree Jadhav against whom BJP gave a ticket to Satyajit Kadam. The Congress led by the then minister of state (home), Satej Patil, registered a victory by around 20,000 votes.

In Andheri (East), after the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has fielded his wife Rutuja Latke. BJP announced the candidature of Murji Patel who had in 2019 contested as an independent and won second-rank votes.

Announcing the decision to withdraw from the bypoll, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said that his party could have won the bypoll but in accordance with the state’s rich political culture the decision has been taken to not contest against the wife of a deceased MLA.

Earlier, Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray had written to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis requesting him to withdraw BJP’s candidature. Later, NCP chief Sharad Pawar too had advised the BJP to not stretch too far and allow bypoll unopposed as barely 18 months remain in the present term of the assembly.

The BJP senior leadership held a discussion on the issue Sunday night and finalised the decision to withdraw the candidate.

Congress leaders, meanwhile, have taunted the BJP saying its fear of losing the election has led to the party’s decision, while NCP’s Ajit Pawar has appealed to all parties to refrain from making comments on the issue as ‘everything has been sorted.’

Sources have hinted that the internal surveys conducted by the BJP indicated that the results would not be in favour of the party.

In the past, after the death of senior BJP leader and Beed Lok Sabha MP Gopinath Munde, the NCP chief had decided to not fight the by-election against Munde’s daughter. However, in 2011 after the death of MNS MLA Ramesh Wanjale from Pune’s Khadkwasla constituency, his wife Harshada chose to contest the bypoll from the NCP and BJP’s Bhimrao Tapkir contested against her. Tapkir had won the bypoll by over 3,500 votes.