The 2024 assembly polls have been different in many ways and one of the striking highlights was the victory of turncoats, who switched their allegiance to Ajit Pawar-led NCP just before the high-stakes elections.
While the BJP emerged as the leading party in the Mahayuti alliance by securing 138 out of 150 seats it contested, Shinde Sena bagged 56 out of 85 segments followed by Ajit’s NCP which won 41 out of 55 constituencies.
Interestingly, some of the notable winners, including the likes of Rajkumar Badole, Prataprao Patil Chikhlikar and Shankar Mandekar, had defected from their respective parties to Ajit’s NCP. Badole has served as the minister for social justice in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government. He had been elected as an MLA from the Arjuni-Morgaon seat in the Bhandara district twice; once in 2009 and second time in 2014 elections.
Similarly, Chikhlikar, an erstwhile BJP heavyweight from the Loha constituency, joined Ajit’s NCP just before the filing of nominations and has managed to clinch victory. He contested from the Loha seat in Nanded and secured 72,750 votes, defeating Eknath Pawar, who received 61,777 votes
Mandekar, the former Pune district president of Shiv Sena (UBT) who fought on the NCP ticket, won the Bhor constituency in Pune. He defeated Congress’ three-time MLA Sangram Thopte by securing 126,455 votes, while the latter garnered 106,817 votes.
