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Mumbai: For BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, wresting the third Rajya Sabha seat for the party was a personal victory since it cements his position at the top of the party’s state leadership.
The BJP seemed to have an ironclad strategy in place for the election, from getting the complex electoral maths right to keeping a back-end team ready for voting day.
“Even if Suhas Kande’s vote had not been declared invalid and jailed NCP MLA Nawab Malik had been allowed to vote, we would still have won as we had many convincing votes,” Fadnavis said in his first reaction after the victory. He warned the MVA of its legislators cross-voting in the BJP’s favour in the upcoming legislative council polls since they were unhappy with the lack of development in the state. “Since polling in legislative council is through a secret ballot, more MLAs from the ruling party will vote for us,” he said.
Sources said that while Fadnavis focused on the maths of the Rajya Sabha election, he had a small band of MLAs who closely coordinated with the Centre on the bail issue for the two jailed MVA ministers, reached out to independents and smaller parties, watched the polling closely, and ensured that complaints to the Election Commission were not only filed in time but also followed up rigorously.
For the Rajya Sabha polls, Fadnavis’s strategy was to focus on the second preferential votes to give the party an edge. “Fadnavis ensured that the maximum first preferential votes went to union minister Piyush Goyal and Dr Anil Bonde (48 votes each). Among all those who won on the first preferential votes, theirs were the highest,” said analyst Ravikiran Deshmukh. “As per the rules for such polls, the second preferential votes of the candidate who has secured the highest first preferential votes are counted for the candidate who needs them to win the election. In this case, to the third BJP candidate, Dhananjay Mahadik. The Shiv Sena seems not to have paid attention to this crucial aspect,” Deshmukh added.
The BJP had 106 votes and an additional seven votes from allies. Fadnavis ensured 27 first preferential votes for Mahadik, and an additional 10 votes from independents and smaller parties. By ensuring that Goyal and Bonde got the highest first preferential votes, he ensured it was their second preferential votes that were counted.
Fadnavis pointed out that party candidate Dhananjay Mahadik polled 41.56 votes, more than even the Shiv Sena’s main candidate Sanjay Raut, who polled 41.
Fadnavis attributed the support from independents and smaller parties to their unhappiness with the MVA government for the lack of developmental work in their constituencies.
Reaching out to smaller parties such as the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by Hitendra Thakur, which has three votes, was crucial, said sources. The BVA and the Shiv Sena are at loggerheads over control of Palghar district. BJP MLA Girish Mahajan, who claimed Thakur was an old friend, had visited Vasai-Virar to seek his help for the election.
At the national level, Fadnavis has grown in stature within the BJP after the party performed well in the Bihar assembly election since he was the party coordinator there. In Goa, where he was in charge of the assembly polls, he ensured the party returned to power.
“The RS poll is a small victory, the bigger fights are around the corner and the BJP will walk the road of victory there too,” said Fadnavis. “We will defeat the MVA in all the local body elections including the BMC elections.”
The BJP seemed to have an ironclad strategy in place for the election, from getting the complex electoral maths right to keeping a back-end team ready for voting day.
“Even if Suhas Kande’s vote had not been declared invalid and jailed NCP MLA Nawab Malik had been allowed to vote, we would still have won as we had many convincing votes,” Fadnavis said in his first reaction after the victory. He warned the MVA of its legislators cross-voting in the BJP’s favour in the upcoming legislative council polls since they were unhappy with the lack of development in the state. “Since polling in legislative council is through a secret ballot, more MLAs from the ruling party will vote for us,” he said.
Sources said that while Fadnavis focused on the maths of the Rajya Sabha election, he had a small band of MLAs who closely coordinated with the Centre on the bail issue for the two jailed MVA ministers, reached out to independents and smaller parties, watched the polling closely, and ensured that complaints to the Election Commission were not only filed in time but also followed up rigorously.
For the Rajya Sabha polls, Fadnavis’s strategy was to focus on the second preferential votes to give the party an edge. “Fadnavis ensured that the maximum first preferential votes went to union minister Piyush Goyal and Dr Anil Bonde (48 votes each). Among all those who won on the first preferential votes, theirs were the highest,” said analyst Ravikiran Deshmukh. “As per the rules for such polls, the second preferential votes of the candidate who has secured the highest first preferential votes are counted for the candidate who needs them to win the election. In this case, to the third BJP candidate, Dhananjay Mahadik. The Shiv Sena seems not to have paid attention to this crucial aspect,” Deshmukh added.
The BJP had 106 votes and an additional seven votes from allies. Fadnavis ensured 27 first preferential votes for Mahadik, and an additional 10 votes from independents and smaller parties. By ensuring that Goyal and Bonde got the highest first preferential votes, he ensured it was their second preferential votes that were counted.
Fadnavis pointed out that party candidate Dhananjay Mahadik polled 41.56 votes, more than even the Shiv Sena’s main candidate Sanjay Raut, who polled 41.
Fadnavis attributed the support from independents and smaller parties to their unhappiness with the MVA government for the lack of developmental work in their constituencies.
Reaching out to smaller parties such as the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by Hitendra Thakur, which has three votes, was crucial, said sources. The BVA and the Shiv Sena are at loggerheads over control of Palghar district. BJP MLA Girish Mahajan, who claimed Thakur was an old friend, had visited Vasai-Virar to seek his help for the election.
At the national level, Fadnavis has grown in stature within the BJP after the party performed well in the Bihar assembly election since he was the party coordinator there. In Goa, where he was in charge of the assembly polls, he ensured the party returned to power.
“The RS poll is a small victory, the bigger fights are around the corner and the BJP will walk the road of victory there too,” said Fadnavis. “We will defeat the MVA in all the local body elections including the BMC elections.”
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