Alpesh Thakor, Udayanraje Bhonsle Lose: Here's How Major Turncoats Fared

Several Congress and NCP leaders defected to the BJP ahead of the elections and some of them, like Udayanraje Bhonsle and Alpesh Thakor, lost by huge margins. 

Here’s how some of the major turncoats fared:

Alpesh Thakor: The BJP candidate lost the bypoll to Radhanpur Assembly seat in Gujarat to Congress ’s Raghubhai Desai by over 3,500 votes.

Thakor had won the Radhanpur seat in the 2017 polls on a Congress ticket and later quit the party. The bypoll was necessitated after he resigned as an MLA and joined the BJP in July this year. 

His close aide Dhavalsinh Jhala, who also switched over to the BJP, also lost the by-election from Bayad Assembly seat by a margin of 700 votes.

Udayanraje Bhonsle: BJP’s Udayanraje Bhonsle is trailing from Satara Lok Sabha constituency by a margin of over 85,000. The descendant of Maratha king Shivaji had been pitted against NCP’s Shriniwas Patil for the seat he himself had won from the NCP in May. 

Bhonsale had quit the NCP last month and joined BJP. He had won from the seat in 2014 and 2019 on an NCP ticket. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar took a dig at Bhonsale, saying the people have rejected turncoats.

Harshavardhan Patil: He contested on a BJP ticket from Indapur Assembly constituency in Maharashtra and lost by over 3,000 votes. Patil joined the BJP just before the polls. 

For the latest news and more, follow HuffPost India on Twitter , Facebook , and subscribe to our newsletter .

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil: He contested from Shirdi on a BJP ticket and won by a margin of over 87,000 votes. Patil, who was the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, resigned as a Congress MLA in June this year and joined the BJP. 

(With PTI inputs)