Kasba Peth by-poll result: BJP seat of 28 years wrested by Congress in Maharashtra

The Bharatiya Janata Party has lost the Kasba Peth Assembly constituency which has been with the saffron party for over two decades.

Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the BJP's Hemant Rasane in the by-poll. Dhangekar polled 73,194 votes while Rasane received 62,244 votes, as per figures on the Election Commission's website after the final round of counting.

The Kasba Peth Assembly constituency was always considered as a stronghold of the BJP and the party has retained the seat for the last 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP MP from Pune, represented the seat five times till 2019.

In 2019, BJP's Mukta Tilak had won the seat. She died after battling cancer in December 2022, which necessitated the by-election in the constituency, located in the old area of Pune city. However, Dhangekar, with the support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), managed to breach the BJP's stronghold.

It has to be noted that it was the first direct contest between the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the opposing MVA after the change of the state government in June last year.

"This is people's victory. The day I filled the nomination form, people of Kasba Peth constituency decided to make me victorious," said an elated Dhangekar, who was seen being carried by Congress workers on their shoulders outside the votes counting centre here after the result was declared.

BJP's Rasane, while conceding defeat, said he as a candidate failed in this election and will introspect what went wrong and where. "Earlier, it used to be a triangular contest, but this time it was a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress," he said.

As the bypolls to Kasba and Chinchwad seats in Pune had become an issue of prestige for the MVA as well as the ruling Shinde-BJP coalition in the state, big leaders like NCP president Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis campaigned for their respective candidates.

Why BJP Lost The Seat?
The BJP's decision to deny ticket to a family member of Mukta Tilak possibly led to the defeat of its candidate. It was said that the Brahmin community was not happy with the saffron party fielding Hemant Rasane. Notably, Mukta Tilak's husband and son did not campaign for the BJP candidate.