Maharashtra Assembly polls: How the defectors fared

While half of the three dozen defectors have been elected, the others who switched loyalty ahead of the Assembly elections have been rejected by the electorate.

While half of the three dozen defectors have been elected, the others who switched loyalty ahead of the Assembly elections have been rejected by the electorate. Udayanraje Bhonsle, Jaidutt Kshirsagar, Harshavardan Patil, Dilip Sopal, Nirmala Gavit and Vaibhav Pichad are among the prominent leaders who faced defeat.

After the Lok Sabha elections, which gave a clear verdict in favour of the saffron alliance earlier this year, more than 40 key leaders, including 17 sitting MLAs, defected from the Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena. Nine MLAs from the Congress and eight from the NCP had joined the two ruling parties and most of them were fielded in the state polls.

NCP MP from Satara Udayanraje Bhonsle quit the party within three months of getting elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. He contested the Lok Sabha bypoll on a BJP ticket, but was rejected by people. He was defeated by NCP’s Shriniwas Patil.

Congress’s sitting MLAs Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Nirmala Gavit, Nitesh Rane, Kalidas Kolambkar, Abdul Sattar, Bhausaheb Kamble, Jaikumar Gore, Gopaldas Agarwal, Kashiram Pawara and its former MLA Harshavardhan Patil had quit the party ahead of the elections.

Party leader and Nirmala Gavit’s brother Bharat, Madan Bhosale, Dilip Mane had also joined either the BJP or Shiv Sena. NCP’s sitting MLAs Jaidutt Kshirsagar, Rana Jagjit Singh Patil, Vaibhav Pichad, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Dilip Sopal and former MLAs Ganesh Naik and Rashmi Bagal defected to the ruling parties. Bahujan Vikas Aghadi’s Vikas Tare had joined the Shiv Sena ahead of the election.

A few BJP leaders, including Udesing Padvi, Balasaheb Sanap and Ashish Deshmukh, joined the Congress or the NCP. Of the turncoats, Jaidutt Kshirsagar, Harshavardhan Patil, Dilip Sopal, Vaibhav Pichad, Nirmala and Bharat Gavit, Rashmi Bagal, Madan Bhosale, Bhausaheb Kamble, Vilas Tare, Ashish Deshmukh, Balasaheb Sanap, Udesinh Padvi were rejected by the people.

“I don’t think people have considered the corruption factor or bad image of the candidates while voting. Voters were least bothered about loyalty, otherwise 14 of them would not have been elected to the Assembly. It has become very difficult to gauge the reasons and parameters on which the voters have voted. In some constituencies, caste played a role, in some, money proved important, while in some cases, people rejected dynasty,” said political analyst Vishwambhar Chaudhary.

Few of the defections were out of compulsion, although most of them switched over to the ruling parties sensing a wave after the Lok Sabha elections. Jaidutt Kshirsagar was sidelined in the NCP after emergence of his nephew Sandeep and was unlikely to get the party ticket. Sandeep defeated him in the elections. Similar was the case of Harshavardhan, as the NCP refused to concede his constituency Indapur to Congress. The last-minute hopping of sitting MLAs of the BJP was after the denial of the ticket.

According to BJP leaders, the influx from the opposition parties to their fold also led to the rebellion and unrest within the ruling alliance. “It also hit their prospects in the elections,” said a party leader.

Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat said some turncoats have dented the prospects of their official candidates. “Many of the big leaders who had quit the party have won the seats adding to the ruling party tally,” he said.