A Singular Yet Lesser Win

The outcome of the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll in Maharashtra is a classic case of how no one wins and everybody loses. Def­ections of senior leaders from the BJP to the Shiv Sena and the Congress to the BJP make it hard to tell if people supported the candidate or the party. With former Congress leader Rajendra Gavit as their candidate, the BJP emerged the winner—its only victory in the recent parliamentary bypolls. The BJP lost Bhandara-Gondia—the seat Nana Pat­-ole had vacated when he quit the BJP over farmers’ agitations—to the NCP.

The Palghar seat had been held by the BJP’s Chintaman Vanaga, who died this January. His son Shrinivas joined the Shiv Sena ahead of the bypolls saying the BJP did not treat the family well. This bypoll marked the first major contest the BJP’s coalition partner in the state faced after it announced its decision to go solo in the future. “We only supported a family that has worked for years in this region,” Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said in a television interview. “The BJP had plans to field another candidate…the CM himself said he was in talks with Gavit.”