MUMBAI: In the first phase of Lok Sabha election on April 19, in Maharashtra, five seats are up for grabs with the BJP having four of them. Nagpur is among these seats from where Union minister Nitin Gadkari is pitted against Congress MLA Vikas Thakre. The other four constituencies are: Ramtek (SC reserved), Chandrapur, Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST reserved) and Gondia-Bhandara.
These five seats are located in the parched Vidarbha region that has a total of 11 parliamentary seats. Congress had won Chandrapur in 2019, the only seat out of the five, from where Suresh Narayan Dhanorkar won comfortably against Hansraj Ahir with a margin of over 45,000 votes.
After the death of the Congress candidate, the party has nominated his spouse Pratibha who will face BJP’s Sudhir Mungantiwar, a state minister. The nominations have been filed and the rivals are battle-ready. The Congress candidate wants to win on the sympathy factor, besides her rapport with women voters. Mungantiwar depends on the ruling party’s development agenda.
In Ramtek (SC reserved) seat, Congress has fielded Shyamkumar Barve after his spouse Rashmi’s candidature was disqualified due to her invalid caste certificate.
In Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST reserved), the Congress’ Dr Namdev Kirsan is fighting against BJP MP Ashok Nete. The Congress MLA, who is also the leader of Opposition, Vijay Wadettiwar is extensively campaigning for the Congress in Gadchiroli. Wadettiwar was eying the party ticket from Chandrapur seat and had reportedly asked the party leadership that if he was declined the ticket, then his daughter Shivani should get the nomination. Shivani had travelled across Maharashtra with Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In Gondia-Bhandara, the Congress has nominated Dr Prashant Padole against BJP MP Sunil Mende. The seat was earlier represented by former Union minister Praful Patel. Congress leader Nana Patole later defeated him when he was in BJP in 2014 elections. Patole has now taken the responsibility of Gondia Bhandara as the party asked him to contest, but he preferred to remain free to campaign across the state.
Vidarbha was a Congress bastion, but in the last two elections, the BJP has captured it. “Both parties face a daunting task: the BJP wants to retain it while the Congress will do everything to recapture its turf. There is huge anti-incumbency in the area, besides Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo yatra energised the decimated Congress cadre in Vidarbha. However, BJP’s well-oiled machinery is working hard to retain its position.
The five seats are significant for the Congress because two of them are reserved and in the past the party did better on these seats. “In 2014, the victory margin of the BJP candidates was more than the average. People are looking for change and Vidarbha’s vote is crucial for progressive ideology of the Congress,” said an observer.