Mumbai: Behind the desperate efforts of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to seek consensus, and the agony over Shiv Sena’s decision to contest from Palghar is a fall of over 3,25,083 votes from 2014 Lok Sabha elections to the assembly polls held the some months later.
Compiled data of votes from all six Assembly constituencies, which are part of the Palghar Lok Sabha seat show that not only did the BJP’s vote share drop from 5,33,201 in general election when it contested in alliance with the Sena to 2,08,118 in Assembly when both parties fought independently, but also that its nearest rival Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) — led by MLA Hitendra Thakur was much ahead in terms of votes it received by a margin of over one lakh.
Dahanu (ST), Vikramgadh (ST), Palghar (ST), Boisar (ST), Nalasopara and Vasai are the six Assembly constituencies in Palghar Lok Sabha seat. Of these, Dahanu and Vikramgadh were won by the BJP, Palghar by the Sena and the rest by BVA in the 2014 elections.
An analysis of the data shows that BJP won 2.08 lakh votes in the Assembly polls, while Sena won 1.82 lakh votes across six constituencies. The BVA however holds a clear command with 3.17 lakh votes. “The numbers explain the reason behind BJP’s anxiety. First, there is no Modi wave as in the 2014 general elections. Secondly, BJP had fought in alliance with us which is not the case in 2018. No wonder Chief Minister is wary about how things will unfold,” said a Sena leader in the cabinet.
A drop of over 3.25 lakh votes from the general to Assembly polls, held in a span of few months, is a major cause of worry for the BJP. It however banks on the newly found support of Shramajivi Sanghatana’s Vivek Pandit who had won over 65,395 votes in the Assembly elections.
The opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stand a distant fourth in the five-corner fight. Even though both parties fought independently in 2014 Assembly polls, they have formed a front for the coming bypolls. Congress did not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election as it had extended support to BVA. Taking the votes from the Assembly election into account, the opposition managed to get only 1.50 lakh votes.
As per data, the fifth corner of the fight, Communist Party of India (Marxist) is limited to two Assembly seats, namely Dahanu and Vikramgadh. The party bagged only 49,913 votes in Assembly polls and 76,890 votes in the general elections.
