Sahakar Panel Wins Thane Palghar Bank Elections as Rebel Hardik Raut Suffers Defeat
The Sahakar Panel, backed by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) chief Hitendra Thakur, secured a dominant victory in the Thane-Palghar District Central Cooperative Bank elections on Sunday, winning 16 of the 21 seats on the board. The election results in Thane also marked the defeat of Thakur's close relative and former corporator Hardik Raut, who had staged the first open rebellion within the influential family by contesting on a rival ticket.
Raut had rebelled against the Thakur family to contest the bank elections, joining the BJP-backed Parivartan Mahayuti panel. He contested for a director’s post specifically from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) constituency. This move represented the first major open rebellion within the prominent Thakur family.
During the campaign, Hitendra Thakur had publicly criticised Raut’s decision to contest against the family-backed panel. Expressing his displeasure, Thakur had stated, "Those who have left are dead to me."
Despite receiving strong backing from the BJP, Raut failed to win the seat and finished third in the OBC constituency. Sahakar Panel candidate Swapnil Mumbaikar won the seat after securing 1,422 votes. Independent candidate Nilesh Sambare finished in second place with 1,162 votes, while Raut polled 965 votes.
The Sahakar Panel, which is backed by the BVA and the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, had already secured eight seats unopposed before the polling took place. Voting for the remaining 11 seats was held on Saturday.
The election results declared on Sunday showed that the Sahakar Panel won eight of those 11 contested seats. Meanwhile, the Parivartan Mahayuti panel won two seats, and independent candidate Nilesh Sambare secured one seat.
Following the final declaration of the results, the Sahakar Panel now holds a commanding majority of 16 out of the 21 seats on the Thane-Palghar District Central Cooperative Bank board. The BJP-backed Parivartan Mahayuti panel holds five members on the board.
