Sena wins Bhiwandi,closes in on BJP

Mhatre was the only local candidate among the three top contestants,as Farhan and Hussein do not live in Bhiwandi. The other factors that contributed to the Sena victory included the presence of a Muslim candidate (fielded by the Congress) in the fray who divided the Muslim votes of the SP,the absence of an MNS nominee and the outbursts of Azmi against an ageing Thackeray that united the Sena cadre.

Azmi accused the Congress of playing dirty politics in Bhiwandi and the Sena of bogus voting.

The bypoll result has come as a setback to the SP in Bhiwandi,where it had lost control over the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation a month ago. The SP was in power in the corporation with support of the Congress. However,in the mayoral election held in mid-December,SP nominee Tarabai Chaudhary was defeated by Independent Yashshree Kadu who was supported by the Congress,the NCP,the Shiv Sena and the local development fronts.

“We campaigned on the issue of development,while Azmi campaigned on communal lines,” said Congress state vice-president Hussein Dalwai. “The Sena got the advantage of communal politics. They had made the attack on Azmi in the Assembly for not taking oath in Marathi a poll plank. Why will people vote for an MLA who does not know Marathi?”

He claimed that though the Congress did not win the seat,the votes secured by its candidate doubled from 12,881 a year ago to 24,599 in the byelection.

In the 2009 Assembly elections,Abu Azmi was elected from Bhiwandi (East) and Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar. He had defeated Sena’s Yogesh Patil and Congress’ Gurunath Tawre in Bhiwandi (East). He had the advantage of being the sole Muslim candidate in the constituency where Hindu and Muslim voters are almost equal in number.