Pune : Policenama Online – In one of the biggest win in terms of margin this Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Girish Bapat won the Pune seat by 3.24 lakh votes against Mohan Joshi of the Congress.
Bapat polled 6.32 lakh votes as compared to Joshi’s 3.08 lakh votes. The counting of votes was delayed and slowed due to several objections raised Joshi and his supporters.
At present, Bapat (68) is the Cabinet Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Food and Drugs Administration, Parliamentary Affairs in Government of Maharashtra.
He initially started working with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). In 1978 during emergency he was arrested and sent to jail. He was appointed as Secretary BJP Pune City in 1980. He was elected in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) by-election in 1983 and won 3 terms. He was also appointed as the Standing Committee Chairman of Pune Municipal Corporation in 1986-87. He was elected as Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1995 for the first time from Kasba Peth constituency.
He represented the constituency five times in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.