Shiv Sena’s Ambadas Danve wins Aurangabad-Jalna Council seat

August 23, 2019 01:22 am | Updated 01:22 am IST - Pune

Ambadas Danve of Shiv Sena celebrating his victory on Thursday.

Ambadas Danve of Shiv Sena celebrating his victory on Thursday.

In a gain for the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition ahead of the Assembly polls, Sena candidate Ambadas Danve on Thursday won the Council biennial election from the Aurangabad-Jalna local authorities’ constituency.

Mr. Danve defeated his nearest rival Baburao Kulkarni (Congress) by a margin of 418 votes by polling 524 votes against Mr. Kulkarni’s 106.

At the start of the polling, the BJP-Sena had the support of 330 public representatives, the Congress-NCP of 250, while the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and other independents made up the remaining 77 of the total 657 public representatives from different local self-governing bodies — including co-opted members and panchayat samitis — across Aurangabad and Jalna districts.

Of these, 647 people — 321 male, 326 female — cast their votes in the election that was held on August 19.

Mr. Danve’s win also brings to fore the sharp divisions within the Congress and NCP camps already reeling under defections en masse.

The margin of victory indicates that cross-voting was rampant with even several AIMIM representatives supportive of Mr. Danve who was also backed by rebel Congress MLA Abdul Sattar and his followers.

“We [Sena-BJP] were sure of only 292 votes, with an additional 40-45 more votes by Independents who had promised us support… We had information that we would also get support from ‘invisible hands’ of certain Congress representatives. As this is a secret ballot, I presume that a number of councillors, corporators and other elected representatives from the opposition have voted for me. I am thankful to all,” said a jubilant Mr. Danve after his victory.

In fact, Mr. Danve’s win was considered a fait accompli as there were clear indications that several elected representatives of the opposition parties would cast their vote for the candidate from the saffron alliance.

“Elected representatives from local self-governing bodies in Jalna and Aurangabad have now weaned away from the Congress and NCP and have no faith in their top leadership anymore, given the number of defections taking place,” Mr. Danve had said before the results.

However, the Congress district leadership in Aurangabad has accused the Sena of ‘buying votes’ with money by putting up representatives in plush hotels.

The win certainly is a boost for the Sena’s — and Mr. Danve’s — prestige in the region as he had been defeated by BJP’s Prashant Bamb from Ganagapur Assembly seat in the 2014 elections when both parties had contested separately.

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