BELAGAVI: The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) is expected to play a crucial role in Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency, and which way the dominant Maratha community votes swing will be clear once it announces its candidate. Traditionally, Marathi voters on the border have been BJP supporters and every vote going to MES will directly impact the prospects of the BJP.
In the last bypoll for Belagavi LS seat in 2021, about 1.16 lakh votes bagged by MES candidate Shubham Shelke directly impacted the BJP, and Mangala Angadi (sitting MP) was able to scrape through with about 4,000 votes against Satish Jarkiholi of the Congress.
According to senior Marathi journalist Sanjay Suryavanshi, the MES may jeopardise the chances of BJP candidate Jagadish Shettar. “If MES fields its popular leaders like Ramakant Konduskar or Shubham Shelke, the BJP will surely land in trouble. Marathi voters will rally behind Shettar strongly if the Samiti fields a lesser known leader,’’ he adds.
In some Lok Sabha and assembly elections held since 2014, MES candidates have been able to bag sizable votes which eventually affected the prospects of the BJP.
However, BJP leaders are confident that Shettar will win by a big margin, irrespective of who the rival candidates are. The Congress is going to gain if MES fields a weaker candidate. And such a situation is possible only if there is an internal pact between the BJP and MES to prevent the split of BJP votes. However, MES sources asserted that the party would field a popular and noted leader.
According to sources, the MES leadership formed a panel of 32 members on Tuesday in Belagavi to finalise its candidate for Belagavi seat. On the first day itself, Sadhana Patil, daughter-in-law of former mayor late Sambhaji Patil, filed her application. Many other aspirants are also expected to file their applications before the MES takes a final call on its candidate on April 9, sources added.