Mumbai, May 25
Shiv Sena’s Anand Paranjpe won the Thane Lok Sabha seat defeating his nearest rival NCP candidate Sanjeev Naik by 86,565 votes, here today.
The byelection was necessitated following the death of Anand’s father, Shiv Sena MP Prakash Paranjpe, last February. NCP’s Sanjeev Naik failed to leverage the clout of his father - environment minister Ganesh Naik - and wrest the seat from the Shiv Sena. The NCP had put up a tough fight with senior party leaders campaigning in this constituency.
However the senior Paranjpe had tremendous goodwill in the constituency which his son banked on to romp home.
Incidentally, Prakash Paranjpe had won by a margin of only 22,000 votes during the last Lok Sabha polls where the turnout was much higher. And although the turnout was as low as 26 per cent this time, the Shiv Sena could use its wide cadre base and pull out enough of its voters to ensure a victory for its candidate.
