Maharashtra Civic Body Election Results: Whistle blows Lotus off Vasai Fort

Palghar: The Thakur family, which for decades have a commanding position in Mumbai’s far western line suburbs of Vasai-Virar, seems to have extracted a sweet revenge when the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) swept the polls. 

In the 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections, BVA founder Hitendra Thakur and his son Kshitij Thakur, lost the Vasai and Nalasopara seats, respectively, to the BJP, in what was a big humiliation to them. 

The BVA - whose symbol is ‘seeti’ (whistle) —  retained the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) - and gave the BJP a massive defeat margin  in the 2026 municipal polls. 

In the 115-member VVCMC, the BVA has won/leading  the lion’s share of 70 plus seats while the BJP has around 40. 

Located 60-plus km away from downtown Mumbai in Palghar district, the tehsil-town falls in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) – the place offers several interesting things. 

The Vasai tehsil  is unique in many respects – it has pristine beaches, it has an agricultural zone, it has a fishing zone, it has an industrial zone, it has a forest zone, it as a tribal area, mushrooming township, hills, majestic medieval forts and so on.

No other taluka/tehsil in the country can boast of such diversity because of rich forest and marine life, wetlands, creeks, streams, rivers.

Vasai houses the Vasai Fort, the iconic fort which has a history of over five centuries - involving Gujarat Sultans, Portuguese, Peshwas and Britishers among others. 

Today Vasai taluka is spread over Naigaon, Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar and some neighbouring areas.

The BVA had won three seats in the Palghar district in 2019 - while Thakur, popularly known as Appa, won the Vasai seat for a record sixth time, his son Kshitij Thakur won the Nalasopara seat for the third term and their party colleague Rajesh Patil won the Boisar (ST) seat.

The BVA ran in eight seats for the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 2024, however scored a duck. 

In Boisar, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Vilas Tare, who is a two-time former BVA MLA, defeated Patil. 

In Vasai, Thakur was defeated by BJP’s Sneha Dube-Pandit  in a triangular contest, which also involved Vijay Patil of the Congress.

In Nalasopara, Kshitij was defeated by BJP’s Rajan Naik in a multi-corner contest which also involved Vinod More of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Sandeep Pandey of Congress and Dhananjay Gawade of Bacchu Kadu-led Prahar Janshakti Party. 

Sneha is daughter of former Independent MLA and social worker Vivek Pandit, popularly known as Vivek Bhau. She is the wife of Navin Dube, who is from the Shiv Sena. 

Vivek Pandit was elected an MLA in 2009, however, that time sensing defeat Thakur had backed out from the contest at the last minute. However, Pandit lost to Thakur in 2014. He is the founder of Shramjeevi Sanghatana and is internationally-recognised for working for release of bonded labourers. 

On the eve of Vidhan Sabha polls, the Thakur father-son duo made national headlines when they alleged that BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde was distributing money in the Vasai-Nalasopara-Virar belt.  Tawde and the BJP leadership denied the charges.