Mumbai, January 24: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikrao Thakre today said he has sought a report into the defeat of party nominee Muzzafar Hussain in the Bhiwandi by-election, where Shiv Sena pulled off a surprise win.
Sena’s candidate Rupesh Mhatre defeated SP’s Farhan Azmi by a narrow margin while Hussain was pushed in the third position.
The Congress failed to secure a win despite increasing its tally from 12,000 votes in the October 2009 elections to 25,000 votes in the bypoll, Thakre told PTI.
“The number of votes went up. But, unfortunately, we could not reach the winning post. I will depute a team of state unit office-bearers to Bhiwandi to ascertain the causes of the defeat. The report is expected to be submitted to me in 15 days,” he said.
–Agencies