THE CPI(M)-MVA candidate Vinod Nikole won a historic victory in the Dahanu (ST) Assembly seat in Palghar district. He secured a record 1,04,702 votes and defeated the BJP candidate by 5,347 votes in a tightly fought contest. This is the tenth time out of the last eleven Assembly elections since 1978 that the CPI(M) has won this seat (Jawhar-ST before delimitation in 2009), and that too by giving five different candidates, all of whom won. In the BJP-NDA sweep seen in the Maharashtra Assembly results, winning this seat against all odds is a remarkable achievement. 

The credit for this massive victory against the unprecedented money power and communal conspiracies of the RSS-BJP goes to the people of Dahanu and Talasari tehsils; to the thousands of dedicated activists of the CPI(M) and the MVA; the constant struggles led by the CPI(M) and the mass fronts like AIKS, CITU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI; and the exemplary work done by Vinod Nikole, MLA, over the last five years. A massive victory procession was held in Dahanu on November 23, and in Talasari town on November 24.