Palghar LS bypoll: Poised for a three-way thriller

Palghar is poised to witness an interesting battle with the by-election in this Lok Sabha constituency becoming a prestige issue for the BJP.

It was no surprise that UP CM Yogi Adityanath referred to the Palghar bypoll as dress rehearsal for the 2019 general election. The ruling allies, BJP and Sena, are fighting it out in Palghar, with Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, led by Hitendra Thakur, providing extra splash to the battle.

Palghar Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly constituencies — Palghar, Vikramgad, Vasai, Nalasopara, Dahanu and Boisar.

Incidentally, despite the fact that Bahujan Vikas Aghadi won the Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and has sent three of the six MLAs from the region to the state assembly, Hitendra Thakur has always been with the ruling party of the day, be it Congress or BJP. Sena has two MLAs and BJP has one.

The Palghar by-election was necessitated after the sudden demise of BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga, who passed away on January 30. It was expected that someone from Vanaga family would be given a ticketby BJP and the election would be won uno posed. But that did not happen. In a sudden twist in the story, Shiv Sena inducted Shrinivas Vanaga, son of late Chintaman Vanaga, and fielded him as their candidate for the by-election.

Alleging backstabbing by Sena, BJP decided to surprise the ally, and Congress, by fielding Rajendra Gavit, a former Congress leader who was a minister in the previous government led by the Congress-NCP.