Kolhapur by-election sees 60% voter turnout; Congress hopes to retain seat

Mumbai: The by-election to the Kolhapur (North) assembly segment, where the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is locked in a prestige battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saw a voter turnout of around 60

Mumbai: The by-election to the Kolhapur (North) assembly segment, where the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is locked in a prestige battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saw a voter turnout of around 60.09 percent. In 2019, the polling percentage stood at 60.87 percent.

Jayashri Jadhav of the Congress is being challenged by Satyajit (Nana) Kadam of the BJP from the seat. (AFP/File Photo)

A senior official from the office of the state’s chief electoral officer said that the tentative voting percentage was around 60.09 percent, with the final figures expected to arrive on Wednesday morning. The results will be declared on Saturday.

An official from the Kolhapur district collectorate said that no untoward incident was reported during the polling. The constituency has 357 voting booths.

Jayashri Jadhav of the Congress is being challenged by Satyajit (Nana) Kadam of the BJP from the seat. The constituency is a traditional Sena stronghold but was won by Chandrakant Jadhav of the Congress in 2019. Jadhav, a local entrepreneur, defeated two-term Shiv Sena legislator Rajesh Kshirsagar.

The by-election has been necessitated due to Jadhav’s death in December from Covid-19 related complications. Congress has fielded Jadhav’s wife, while Kadam is the nephew of local strongman Mahadeorao Mahadik.

In addition to Jadhav and Kadam, there are 13 other candidates in the fray.

This by-election is being seen as a mandate on the popularity of the MVA after the BJP’s success in four of the five states where assembly elections were held. So far, two by-elections have been held since the MVA came to power in November 2019.

In May 2021, BJP’s Samadhan Autade snatched the Pandharpur-Mangalwedha seat after the death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Bharat Bhalke, while in November, Jitesh Antapurkar of the Congress held on to Deglur-Biloli that was won by his late father, Raosaheb.

While minister of state for home and Kolhapur’s guardian minister Satej (Bunty) Patil has held the fort for the MVA in this election, Mahadik and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil have led the charge for the BJP.

The outcome may be determined by the counter-currents within the two fronts—while some BJP workers are said to be upset at the ’dynastic rule’ of the Mahadiks, Shiv Sena workers are reportedly uneasy due to the seat being conceded to Congress.

To tap into this discontent among saffron voters, the BJP had tried to polarize the election on the issue of Hindutva. However, on Tuesday, Patil had to face sloganeering by irate Shiv Sainiks in Mangalwar Peth and beat a retreat.

Kshirsagar said that Jayashri Jadhav would sweep the elections with a margin of over 25,000. “The Shiv Sena solidly stands by the MVA nominee,” he added.

“The turnout has crossed 60 percent despite this being a by-election… this will work in favour of the BJP,” claimed the party’s district unit chief Mahesh Jadhav.

The constituency, which comprises the old areas of Kolhapur city like Rajarampuri, Shahupuri, Laxmipuri and Bawda, has around one lakh each Maratha and other backward classes (OBC) voters, 35,000 Brahmins, 20,000 Gujaratis, Marwaris and Jains, 18,000 Dalits, and 15,000 Muslims.