Mumbai.
There are various factors that work towards a politician winning or losing an election. One of the strongest factors is the political party a politician is representing. While many politicians stay in one political party and are die-hard activists of that political party because of the ideologies, many others leave the party since they are not in sync with the decisions, difference of opinion or with the manner in which the high command of a particular party functions.
Gold Rate
06 May 2025
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane lost the Bandra East by polls against Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant by 19,008 votes.
Trupti Sawant, the widow of former MLA Bala Sawant whose death necessitated the bypoll, won the by-election by garnering 52,711 votes while the Indian National Congress heavyweight Rane got 33,703 votes. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Rahbar Khan remained on third place, with 15,050 votes.
Almost everybody knows that the Bandra East seat has always been a strong-hold of Shiv Sena. Pitching any leader or politician of any other party is a sure suicide. Very reliable sources in the party claimed that this time round, the Congress Party high command had directed Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to request veteran leader Narayan Rane to contest against Trupti Sawant of Shiv Sena.
Sources told Nagpur Today that this move by Congress party was to establish their entity and to pass the message to other political parties that they have not died down.
Narayan Rane chose to will-fully enter into the fray and contest the Bandra East by polls against Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant because of an assurance of a seat in Upper House of Maharashtra Assembly whether he wins or loses.
Factors that led to debacle of Narayan Rane in Bandra by polls
Narayan Rane had an image or persona of being invincible to many in Mumbai before he lost the 2014 Assembly elections. However, the trend took a downfall and he lost three elections in a row. All his trusted lieutenants were deserting him.
So when he announced his candidature for Bandra by polls, very few actually believed that Narayan Rane would win and rise up to maintain his stature. However that did not happen. He had to face defeat, that, too at the hands of a rookie Shiv Sena candidate Trupti Sawant.
Trupti Sawant inherited the legacy of Sena’s silent performer Bala Sawant, who died of cancer, but was one of the most loyal Bal Thackeray aides. So Trupti garnered the sympathy votes too. Trupti was a part of Bala Sawant’s work force. Trupti worked with Bala Sawant in his office before he married her. She was known to Bala Sawant’s cadre and the voters. It is a known fact that Rane was an outsider in Bandra. Narayan Rane might have been a heavyweight candidate, yet he was still an outsider. The traitor tag labeled by Shiv Sena could not be erased by Narayan Rane. One more very fatal factor of anti-incumbency against Congress seems to be still going strong. Rane had to bear the brunt of Congress party’s past sins which he couldn’t wipe away.
