PERNEM
Former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar may not have won the election but he engineered a split in BJP votes as a rebel candidate and in doing so, enabled MGP candidate Jit Arolkar to emerge as the winner in the Mandrem constituency.
Not only did Arolkar dethrone two-time MLA Dayanand Sopte, but also defeated former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar to become MLA for the first time, thereby avenging his loss to Sopte in the 2019 Mandrem by-polls.
After the elections were announced, it seemed a straight fight between MGP and BJP in Mandrem. But in an interesting turn of events, former BJP chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar decided to contest as an Independent candidate, which proved to favour Arolkar.
Of all nine panchayats in the Mandrem constituency, only Mandrem sarpanch backed the MGP while the rest all worked for the BJP.
It was yet another political setback for BJP’s former senior leader Parsekar after having lost in the 2017 polls to Sopte.
For the MGP, it has been a return to power in Mandrem after two decades after Adv Ramakant Khalap had won on MGP's ticket in 1999.
Arolkar’s victory could spell trouble for both Sopte and Parsekar as he and the MGP are set to consolidate their base in the Mandrem constituency.
