With BJP and Congress fielding non-cadre candidates, the bypoll has turned interesting
Yesterday, all three main candidates filed their nomination papers for the Ponda bypoll scheduled for April 9. The seat fell vacant following the death of former chief minister Ravi Naik in November last year. He represented Ponda six times.
Ponda was a MGP bastion for nearly four decades until Naik won the seat for the Congress in 1999. Like many others, Naik had started his political innings with the MGP. In the 1989 assembly election, he was elected on a Congress ticket from Marcaim (a stronghold of Power Minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar since 1999). The BJP, to counter anti-incumbency, brought him into the party fold ahead of the 2022 assembly election, and Naik proved his popularity by winning the Ponda seat for the BJP for the first time. In all previous elections, he had won the Ponda seat decisively.
As expected, the BJP has nominated Naik’s son Ritesh for the seat. His younger son Roy was also reportedly interested in the candidature. The BJP, however, was clear in its decision. Ritesh started his work well in advance, and the BJP camp has the advantage of the sympathy factor.
The BJP is a party rooted in its cadre and has several committed workers who have kept the party flag flying high for decades. Vishwanath (Apurv) Dalvi is one of them.He has created a strong following in Ponda. His supporters wanted the ticket for Dalvi, as he was not preferred in 2022 too. Their contention was that Dalvi could win the seat. Political factors delayed BJP’s announcement of its candidate. For a change, it was the Congress that announced its candidate first. When the BJP announced its choice, Dalvi’s supporters were upset, and the party’s senior leaders had to assuage his concerns. Dalvi has since extended full support to Ritesh. On Monday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant personally visited Dalvi’s residence and sorted out differences. The BJP’s decision was primarily based on the winnability factor, something the Congress used to consider in the past.
The situation is no different for the Congress. Rajesh Verenkar has a good base in Ponda, and in the last assembly election, he finished a close third. This time, the Congress has nominated Dr Ketan Bhatikar, who lost the last election on an MGP ticket by just 77 votes. Verenkar, who comes from a political family—his father was an MLA—has, for the record, extended support to Bhatikar.
On Sunday, the Congress received a boost when the RGP extended support to it, though it has issues to resolve with senior leaders of the main opposition party. Considering the mood of the people, calling for opposition unity, the RGP seems to have taken the right decision for its image. It had polled more than 1,700 votes in the last assembly elections. The AAP, however, is contesting the election. Its candidate, Geetesh Naik, also filed his nomination on Monday. Being the last day, there was a rush at the deputy collector’s office as all the three parties gathered with their supporters at almost the same time. Whether this could have been avoided needs to be seen by the authorities.
Considering the above, the election appears poised for a close contest. It will, however, make little difference to the arithmetic of the present Assembly. Being in power, and with the MGP aligning with the BJP, Ritesh, on the face of it, has an advantage. Given the work done by Bhatikar in the constituency, it remains to be seen how many MGP supporters will back him. If the Congress’ alliance partner GFP comes along and the party works unitedly, the BJP will not have it easy. In the next 15 days, much depends on campaign strategies in the constituency, with the result to be known on May 4.
