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Shiv Sena wins prestige war on home turf as Narayan Rane loses again

Sawant polled 52,711 votes against Rane, who secured 33,703 votes. With an impressive margin of more than 19,000 votes, newcomer Sawant not only won the prestige war for her party by winning in its bastion but also pushed Rane towards possible political exile. The senior leader had lost last year's assembly polls from his home turf Kudal in Sindhudurg district as well.

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Shiv Sena president Udhav Thackeray and winning candidate Trupti Sawant celebrate the bypoll result at the former’s residence Matoshree in Kalanagar, Bandra (East), while party supporters display a rush of adrenaline by breaking into a victory dance in the constituency on Wednesday
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Congress stalwart and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane on Wednesday lost to Shiv Sena's Trupti Sawant in the Bandra (East) assembly bypoll, his second consecutive defeat in six months, raising doubts over his political career.

Sawant polled 52,711 votes against Rane, who secured 33,703 votes. With an impressive margin of more than 19,000 votes, newcomer Sawant not only won the prestige war for her party by winning in its bastion but also pushed Rane towards possible political exile. The senior leader had lost last year's assembly polls from his home turf Kudal in Sindhudurg district as well.

Jubilant Sena workers celebrated the defeat of the Congress heavyweight outside his residence and 'Matoshree' by bursting crackers, waving saffron flags and shouting party slogans.

Rane's candidature had made the contest more relevant, suffusing more energy in the Sena and the Congress, as they managed to improve their scores as compared to the October 2014 poll.

All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which had made an impressive debut in the state assembly elections last year, bagging two seats, was placed third, with party candidate Rehbar Khan polling 15,050 votes.

While Trupti, 34, riding on the sympathy wave and backed by the BJP got 11,323 votes more than her late husband Prakash (Bala) Sawant, whose death had necessitated the bypoll, Rane, 63, also bettered Congress's score by a whopping 21,474 votes, but it wasn't enough to defeat his young rival.

Additionally, Sena's organisational skills and Yuva Sena's enthusiasm came handy for Sawant.

Rane had sought to present himself as someone who could work better to solve complex slum issues than Trupti, who is "naive and inexperienced". He gave fiery speeches, sought to raise issues of beef ban and 'failure' of Sena in addressing civic issues despite being at the helm in the BMC.

It seems nothing worked in favour of Rane, who accepted the "challenge" of a tough seat only to give himself a chance for his own survival. Campaigns by Congress's big leaders and support of the NCP also failed to impress the electorate, which supported Sena wholeheartedly.

A total of 10 candidates were in the fray in the Bandra (East) bypolls held on April 11. It saw a poor voter turn out of 38.86%, a decline of more than eight points as compared to the turnout in the October assembly polls, when 47% voters exercised their franchise.

Bypoll vote statistics
Shiv Sena: 52,711 (41,388 in October assembly polls)
Congress: 33,703 (12,229)
AIMIM: 15,050 (23,976)
NOTA: 819

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