BMC polls 2017: Surendra Bagalkar’s last election ends with loss in draw of lots

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“Picking a chit as a tie-breaker gives either candidate 50 per cent chances of winning. Shah is a good friend and while I have no grievances with the process of counting, I feel that it is an insult to the people who came out to vote for me that the decision should rest on the picking of a chit. It is a very arbitrary system and not fair at all. I haven’t lost yet since I knew people have challenged this before and I will fight for justice,” he says. But while his legal battle will take its course, the Bagalkars acknowledge that the afternoon of February 23 was the toughest ever.

Neither the family nor his supporters ate a morsel all day. As they waited outside the polling booth inside the Gilder Lane Municipal School in Mumbai Central with bated breath, the tension grew.

Still battling anger and disappointment, his wife Mita, 53, remembers the nervous wait: “His supporters came out in large numbers, and that was reassuring. I was just praying constantly.” A radiation technologist at Tata Memorial Hospital for the last 28 years, Mita had taken the day off. The rest of the family was rallying around too, including daughters Shruti, 29, and Shriya, 24. “No mobile phones were allowed inside the counting centre, so we would just hear rumours once every few minutes. It was nerve-wracking,” she says. “My daughters, however, kept asking me to calm down and wait for a formal announcement.”

Bagalkar has been a Shiv Sainik for 24 years. Apart from being a shakha pramukh for four years between 1999 and 2002 and the deputy vibhaag pramukh of Malabar Hill, he also served as chairperson of the BEST committee from 2005 to 2007. Also a recipient of the best corporator award announced by an association of journalists covering the Mumbai municipality, Bagalkar is well known for his work with the dabbawallahs of Mumbai, including distribution of raincoats and constructing a cycle stand for them near Charni Road station. There was no precedence of any affiliation to politics in Bagalkar’s family. In fact, before taking up full-time politics, Bagalkar worked with Crompton Greaves besides helping out at his family dealership for Thums Up.

The afternoon of February 23 saw the family go from disappointed to bitter to outraged, especially when it emerged that there were five “tender votes”. These were voters who had not been able to exercise their franchise owing to somebody having cast a vote against their name. The tender votes are kept separately, not counted but sealed.

“At least five people came forward who were not able to cast their votes as someone else had voted in their stead. There is a provision under which a judge can open these votes cast on ballot paper. The counting of these votes should ascertain the final tally,” says Bagalkar.

When a seven-year-old girl finally picked a chit with Shah’s name and the verdict was finally announced at 7.15 pm on February 23, there was disbelief and disappointment among his supporters, including a large number of women from Kumbharwada who broke down when the announcement was made.

Mita says Bagalkar came out of the building and the first thing he said was that he would take the matter up in court. “He came straight to me and told me about what happened inside. He vowed to fight it out and asked me to go home. He then took all the supporters who were waiting outside and walked all the way to the shakha office in Kumbharwada where he promised them that even though he didn’t win, he would continue to work for them in the ward. I firmly believe that when there are cases of bogus voters, picking a chit cannot be considered a fair manner of settling a tie,” she says.

In fact, civic officials say there is no known precedent in the BMC’s recent history for settling a tie through a lottery. “There hasn’t been a tie in the last 30 years at least,” said a senior official. “The rule in case of ‘equality of votes’ is mentioned in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act 1888 under Section 28 H, which states that a lot will be drawn in the presence of the municipal commissioner to settle a tie. Similar instances have been seen when zilla parishad or gram panchayat elections are tied.” The manner of conducting the lottery, however, is decided by the municipal commissioner and in this case a child was picked as she wouldn’t be aware of the related consequences, say officials.

The outcome of the recounting on February 23 not only surprised Bagalkar’s family and supporters but also baffled the party leaders. “Uddhav ji called me later in the evening that day and asked me what went wrong since we were very confident that we would win in that ward. I, however, assured him that I would fight for the seat and told him that I was planning to approach the court,” says the Sena leader.

The family agrees fate played its role from the start. When his own Ward 215 fell under reservation for an OBC woman candidate following delimitation, Bagalkar had initially decided not to contest. “Uddhav ji said on January 30 that he wanted me to contest from Ward 220. I was a new face in the area and Uddhav ji was aware of the tough fight it was going to be. If only I had known three months ago, I would have won by a clear majority,” Bagalkar says. He had barely 15 days to campaign in an area where he was not considered a local face.

Ward 220 includes areas such as Null Bazaar and Kamathipura. Even though the Muslim-dominated Null Bazaar area had never witnessed much Shiv Sena activity, the locals supported him, he says. “Unlike Shah, who was once elected MLA from this area, I had no history here. Even though no part of my old ward was included in Ward 220, I still managed to visit 60 per cent of the homes as part of my door-to-door campaign. I also conducted two rallies in the area, of which one attracted a crowd of 1200 people. It was attended by popular Marathi actor and Sena secretary Aadesh Bandekar. In fact, as per our calculations, we were hoping to get 3,000-5,000 votes, so we were pleasantly surprised when we received more than that,” he says.

Despite the tough campaign, Bagalkar’s family supported him closely. While neither Mita, nor their daughters have any political inclinations, they provided the encouragement and backing he needed during the campaign. Shruti works at a multinational bank, while Shriya has a degree in law.

“My wife works at Tata Memorial Hospital. Despite being an admirer of Balasaheb, she has never been involved in politics. But for the first time in 17 years, she too came for my rally in Kumbharwada. And my daughters have helped strengthen my resolve to fight this out in court,” says Bagalkar.

The daughters also play an important supporting role, helping Bagalkar reap the benefits of technology. “Our father comes and discusses the issues in his ward with us and takes our feedback into consideration. We help him understand the benefits of using social media. In fact, we suggested setting up a WiFi connection at the shakha office — ours was the first among other shakhas to implement this,” says Shriya.

At the counting centre that day, Bagalkar, who was accompanied by senior party leaders Anil Desai, Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant and Pandurang Sakpal. As the recounting progressed, he was leading in the first nine rounds. Then the numbers started rising in Shah’s favour. “Out of the 13 rounds, I was leading in the first nine rounds. I was ahead of Atul Shah by more than 1,200 votes and ahead of Congress candidate Naresh Sheth by 700 votes. In the last four machines, which includes the Jain and Gujarati votes from areas such as Gulalwadi and Panjrapur, Atul Shah got practically all of the votes,” he says.

The party is wholeheartedly supporting his decision to take the matter to court, he says. “Leaders Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai among others have given their advice and also given me a lawyer who will fight our case in court,” he says.

But while he is determined to fight for the opening of the tender votes, this was Bagalkar’s last election. “I had decided not to contest in these elections itself but changed my mind after the party leaders asked me to. But I am not interested in contesting the next civic elections though I will continue to work for the party for as long as I can, and I will help the younger members in the coming elections,” he says.

Bagalkar believes had he spent three months campaigning instead of 15 days, he would have made inroads in these areas too. That too, like the lottery, had been sealed by fate.