india

Updated: Oct 25, 2019 06:40 IST

Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained the Satara Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in a victory the winning candidate credited to the party chief. Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) secured Bihar’s Samastipur Lok Sabha seat in a region, where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won just one of five assembly by-polls.

Pawar’s old friend and former Sikkim governor Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil won Satara, defeating Udayanraje Bhosale, whose defection from the NCP to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in September necessitated the by-poll.

Bhosale had won the Satara seat in the April-May Lok Sabha elections but vacated it after moving to the BJP. Bhosale, a direct descendent of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, contested the seat this time as a BJP candidate. Pawar had campaigned in Satara braving a downpour and in his speech said choosing Bhosale had been a mistake on the part of his party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Satara in support of Bhosale.

Patel attributed the outcome to Pawar, saying the people of the constituency had not been happy with Bhosale ditching the NCP chief. The vote was for Pawar, not him, Patil said. Satara is considered a bastion of the NCP, which has dominated both Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the region.

“Pawar Saheb had fielded him [Bhosale] from Satara Lok Sabha seat, respecting the throne. But Bhosale deserted the party a few months after the election. He betrayed Pawar Saheb. Hence, the people voted him out,” Patil said.

In Samastipur, LJP candidate Prince Raj, a nephew of Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan, won with a margin of over 100,000 votes.

Samastipur was the lone bright spot in Bihar for the NDA partners BJP and the Janata Dal (United), which were able to win only one of the five assembly seats where by-elections were held on October 21.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of Ram Chandra Paswan, who won the seat earlier this year with over 250,000 votes against Congress veteran and former state party chief Ashok Kumar, who is a six-term MLA.

Ram Chandra Paswan’s son, Prince Raj, again took on Kumar, who lost for a fourth time despite putting up a better fight this time in an election marked by a low voter turnout. The voting percentage in Samastipur was nearly 16 percentage points lower than in April – down from 61% to 45%.

Samastipur has for long been considered an LJP bastion. Ramchandra Paswan won the seat both in 2014 and 2019. Prince Raj had tried his luck from the Kalyanpur assembly seat in Samastipur in 2015, but lost to the JD-U’s Maheshwar Hazari by 52,000 votes.

Prince Raj thanked the electorate for reposing faith in him and promised to work for his constituency. “I am thankful to all those who remained with me after the death of my father,” he added.

On September 17, the NDA had presented a united face in Samastipur when chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan came together on a common stage to campaign for Prince Raj.

“It is a big win for the LJP, as it not only keeps the image of Ram Vilas Paswan intact, but also saves the NDA the blushes in an otherwise below-par performance in assembly by-polls. In the run-up to the 2020 assembly elections, the LJP will seek a bigger stake now due to its track record,” said an LJP leader, who requested anonymity.