Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Oct 30 (PTI) Of its Mahayuti allies and the three parties in the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the BJP is contesting the most number of seats – 20 of 46 – in the Marathwada region in the next month’s Maharashtra assembly polls.
The region in central Maharashtra comprises the districts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, and Parbhani. It has been the epicentre of the Maratha protests steered by activist Manoj Jarange.
The Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the rival Shiv Sena (UBT) under Uddhav Thackeray have each fielded candidates in 16 constituencies in this region.
While the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are other Mahayuti allies, Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) form the MVA. In this year’s Lok Sabha polls, Mahayuti could win only one of the 8 seats in Marathwada.
Besides BJP (20) and Shiv Sena (16), NCP has nominated 9 candidates in Marathwada for the November 20 polls. The Gangakhed seat has been given to the Mahadev Jankar’s Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, which has fielded Ratnakar Gutte, shows nomination data.
NCP has fielded no candidates in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna and Dharashiv districts, while the Shinde Sena is not contesting any seats in Beed and Latur.
Of the MVA constituents, Sena (UBT) will contest in 16 seats, including Sillod, Kannad, Vaijapur, Aurangabad Central, Aurangabad West and Paithan in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. Five of the six leaders from the undivided Shiv Sena who had won in the district in 2019 subsequently sided with Shinde when he rebelled against the Thackeray-led party in 2022.
Sena (UBT) is not contesting in any constituency in the Beed district.
The other two MVA partners, NCP (SP) and Congress, each have got 15 seats to contest in Marathdwada.
The NCP (SP) has at least one candidate in all eight districts of Maharashtra, while the Congress is not in the fray in the Beed and Hingoli districts.
Five ministers from the Eknath Shinde cabinet have been given tickets in the region. Shiv Sena minister Abdul Sattar will face off with Suresh Bankar, who recently joined Sena (UBT) from BJP in Sillod.
Housing minister Atul Save of BJP is pitted against AIMIM’s former MP Imtiaz Jaleel and Lahu Shevale of Congress in Aurangabad East constituency.
It’s a battle between NCP rivals in Parli of Beed district. Here, NCP minister Dhananjay Munde is contesting against Rajesaheb Deshmukh of NCP (SP).
Another minister, Tanaji Sawant of Shinde faction, is locked in a three-cornered fight in Paranda seat in Dharashiv district, where NCP (SP) has fieded Rahul Mote and its MVA partner Sena (UBT) has nominated Ranjit Patil.
In Udgir in Latur district, NCP minister Sanjay Bansode will take on Sudhakar Bhalerao of NCP (SP).
Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23. PTI AW NR