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Uddhav govt faces test at Pandharpur which escaped stricter Covid-19 curfew for bypoll

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/19/2021 10:59:42 AM

New Delhi, Apr 18 While West Bengal Assembly election and huge crowds at campaign rallies have hogged the limelight, a bypoll is being held in Maharashtra. Canvassing for Pandharpur-Mangalwedha assembly bypoll ended on Thursday. Pandharpur in Solapur district was exempted from the stricter Covid-19 curfew that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced earlier this week to contain the spread of coronavirus infections in Maharashtra, the worstaffected state in India. Uddhav Thackeray had then said Covid-19 restrictions would be imposed in Pandharpur after the polling on April 17. This bypoll is a big midcoronavirus pandemic test for the Uddhav Thackeray government, which has been battling not only the Covid-19 surge but also political challenges such as losing two ministers to charges of corruption and alleged involvement in a case of unnatural death. Another minister barely survived the exit from the Uddhav cabinet. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of MLA Bharat Bhalke of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the ruling alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra. He died of Covid-19 in November 2020, when coronavirus pandemic was at its peak in Maharashtra. The byelection is being held when the second wave of Covid-19 has broken previous records of daily cases. Bharat Bhalke won Pandharpur seat in 2009 as an Independent candidate, retained this seat in 2014 as the Congress nominee and won it in 2019 on an NCP ticket. The NCP has fielded his son Bhagirath Bhalke in the bypoll. He is up against Samadhan Autade, the BJP candidate who had lost the seat to late Bharat Bhalke in 2019. It could be just one seat, but Pandharpur battle is a high-stake contest between the Uddhav Thackeray's government and the Opposition BJP. When the Uddhav Thackeray government announced weekend curfew (Friday evening to Monday morning) for all of Maharashtra earlier this month, Pandharpur was given relaxation in view of the ongoing election campaign. Back then, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, "The elections conducted by the state government authorities can be deferred. But the Pandharpur by-election schedule was announced by the Election Commission earlier. So, it will be held as per its schedule." The NCP has fielded its big guns including Ajit Pawar and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, the daughter of party.