Maharashtra elections results: BJP’s Jagtap wins Chinchwad seat with record margin of votes

In fact, in the Chinchwad Assembly seat, BJP candidate Shankar Jagtap created a new record on the Assembly poll turf of Pimpri-Chinchwad as he won by a margin of over 1 lakh votes against NCP (SP) candidate Rahul Kalate.

While Shankar Jagtap notched up 2,35, 323 votes, his rival Rahul Kalate had to remain content with 1,31, 458 votes. Jagtap, who was contesting his first assembly election, won by a margin of 1,03,865.

Since the constituency came into being in 2009, the Jagtap family has maintained its supremacy over it.

His elder brother Laxman Jagtap won the seat for three consecutive terms.

After Laxman’s death, his wife Ashwini Jagtap won the seat in the bypoll in 2023 and now Shankar Jagtap has won the seat.

Political anaylst Avinash Chilekar said: “Shankar Jagtap has a set a new record. In Pimpri-Chinchwad assembly poll history, no candidate has won by such a huge margin of votes.”

Rahul Kalate, who contested the Assembly poll unsuccessfully for the third time, was banking heavily on the Sharad Pawar rally which had drawn a lot of attention during the campaigning. However, his associates said there was a delay in announcing his candidature, which gave him less time to campaign and reach out to the voters.

In Bhosari Assembly seat, it was expected that sitting MLA Mahesh Landge would be locked in a close fight with Ajit Gavhane of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP).

However, Landge, the popular wrestler from Bhosari, romped home for the third consecutive time with a margin of 63,275 votes.

While Landge secured 2,13, 624 votes, his rival Gavhane could muster 149,859 votes. Gavhane was contesting his first Assembly election.

Like Landge, Gavhane’s candidature was also announced at the last minute as both NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) had disagreed over who would contest the seats.

Gavhane was with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, heading the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the party but resigned on the eve of the election.

Easy finish in Pimpri reserved seat

In Pimpri reserved seat, sitting NCP MLA Anna Bansode, who had braved strong oppostion from corporators of his former party, won by a comfortable margin of 35, 624 votes.

While Bansode secured 1,09,239 votes, his rival Sulakshna Shilwant-Dhar got 72,235 votes. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had tried to get the seat, however, the NCP (SP) thwarted its attempts.

The Sena leaders said they had told the NCP (SP) leaders that there was strong anger against the sitting MLA due to poor performance in the last five years and therefore a strong candidate needed to be fielded.

“We made an effort to get the seat. We wanted to field Gautam Chabukswar who had already once won one seat. But we could not get the seat,” Sanjay Raut, spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT) told this paper.

‘Weren’t sure victory margin will be so huge’

Yogesh Behl, president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of NCP said: “All Mahayuti candidates put on a stellar show. We knew they will win but were not sure the victory margin would be so huge.”

Behl said there were several factors which contributed to the victory of Mahayuti candidates. “The Ladki Bahin Yojana was one of the factors besides the several government steps in favour of farmers, the free-bus schemes, and free education for girls all helped us win a thumbs up from the voters ,” he said.

BJP leader Mahesh Kulkarni said: “The party had meticulously planned its strategy. Our cadre worked relentlessly, taking the government initiatives to the doorsteps of voters. The rallies held by our Mahayuti leaders also helped a great deal.”

In Maval seat too, sitting NCP MLA Sunil Shelke who faced strong oppostion from alliance partner BJP over his renomination won with a big margin of votes.

Shelke secured 1,91,255 votes while his rival Bapu Begde, an independent, managed 82,690 votes. Shelke won by a 1,08,565 votes.