Jayashree Jadhav of the Congress wins by-poll to the Kolhapur North Assembly seat

In the bypoll for the Kolhapur North seat, the BJP's nominee Satyajit Kadam lost by 18,750 votes to Congress candidate Jayashree Jadhav, who received backing from Maha Vikas Aghadi allies, the Shiv Sena, and the NCP. Last year's death of Congress member Chandrakant Jadhav from Covid prompted the bypoll. Jayashree Jadhav is the first woman to be elected to the Kolhapur Legislative Assembly, which is known for its progressive king, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

 

The Maha Vikas Aghadi partners stated that Saturday's result demonstrated that Chhatrapati Shivaji's progressive ideas, as well as those of social reformers Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule, and Dr. B R Ambedkar, would triumph over the BJP's polarising tactics. The election saw a turnout of 61.19 percent of eligible voters. In Kolhapur, Congress workers celebrated their triumph by dancing and hurling gulal into the air. Jadhav thanked the voters and stated that the MVA's three constituents had worked together to secure the victory.

 

The victory also demonstrated that the Congress party's decision to rely on Satej Patil, a minister, paid off. Patil claimed that the BJP attempted to bribe voters with money. "However, we were able to stop them in their tracks and catch them red-handed," he explained. The ruling MVA partners are now claiming that the Kolhapur model should be replicated across the country in order to keep the BJP out of power in the next election. Despite the BJP's efforts to highlight internal inconsistencies and divisions, the MVA allies put on a united front. The Shiv Sena was able to appease Rajesh Kshirsagar, a former legislator who was dissatisfied with the party's decision to renounce its claim to Kolhapur North and back the Congress.

 

The BJP made a concerted effort to entice voters with its Hindutva platform, which included a request to ban loudspeakers at  'azaan' and encourage the chanting of the 'Hanuman Chalisa.' It also done so by casting doubt on the Shiv Sena's Hindutva by forming the MVA government in Maharashtra with the NCP and the Congress. The BJP, on the other hand, failed to adequately implement its election strategy. It began its campaign by vowing to expose the Maha Vikas Aghadi's 'flop show' over the last two and a half years, attempting to project the slew of accomplishments by its government at the Centre, and then zeroed in on its favourite Hindutva agenda, branding its estranged ally Shiv Sena as 'pseudo-secular.'

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @SanjayJog7