BJP wins Bhandara even after bypoll loss

Nagpur: When BJP had lost the Bhandara-Gondia bypoll in May 2018, many political pundits had written off the party in the constituency. However, with its candidate Sunil Mendhe winning the seat by a margin by 2.04 lakh votes over his nearest rival Nana Panchbudhe of NCP, BJP is back with a bang in the two districts.
BJP candidate Nana Patole had trounced NCP stalwart Praful Patel by 1.5 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, Patole developed differences with the party leadership and quit it in December 2017. Both Patel and Patole combined their strength in the by-election to ensure victory of a low key NCP candidate Madhukar Kukde. While Kukde was a Kunbi, his BJP rival was a Powar.
NCP did not give the ticket to Kukde in 2019. It was expected that either Patel or his wife Varsha would contest from the seat. However, Patel stunned everybody by giving the ticket to Nana Panchbudhe, who had been out of active politics since years. Many political pundits felt that Patel was not confident of winning the seat and hence did not field his wife. This however, disappointed NCP and Congress workers.
BJP changed its strategy this time and fielded Mendhe, a Kunbi. Nagpur guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and BJP MLC Parinay Fuke worked very hard to rebuild the party base in the constituency. Their efforts paid off and BJP won by a handsome margin.