Palghar: Though it is not yet clear whether Palghar Lok Sabha MP Rajendra Gavit will contest from Shinde sena or BJP, he has started his campaign by meeting voters in the constituency. While Shinde's Sena office-bearers have been roaming with him, BJP office-bearers seem to have refrained from moving around.
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In the 2019 Palghar Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena's Rajendra Gavit (5,80,479 votes) defeated Bahujan Vikas Aghadi's Baliram Jadhav (4,91,596 votes) by a margin of 88,883 votes. Earlier, Palghar district was included in the North Mumbai constituency. In 1989, Ram Naik presented BJP in the Palghar district. Ram Naik was accepted by voters five times whereas Chintaman Vanga and Rajendra Gavit were accepted thrice and once respectively.
The Palghar Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by Rajendra Gavit of the Shinde Sena. Both the BJP and the Shiv Sena have staked claim to the Palghar Lok Sabha seat this time. Since the BJP is not ready to give up the Palghar seat, the strategy is to field Rajendra Gavit on the BJP symbol, according to reports from the BJP camp.
One group for, one group againstWhile BJP's Palghar district president Bharat Rajput and some other office-bearers are opposed to Rajendra Gavit, a section of the BJP is in favour of giving ticket to Rajendra Gavit. On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis played a key role in bringing Rajendra Gavit from the Congress to the BJP in the 2018 elections.