Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Three Marathwada seats to decide fate of political bigwigs in phase-4

The fate of political bigwigs is set to be decided as the Marathwada seats of Aurangabad, Jalna and Beed are scheduled to go to polls in the Phase-4 of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

While Jalna and Beed are witnessing direct contests, Aurangabad is experiencing a triangular contest.

Eventhough the Lok Sabha seat is still known as Aurangabad, the city and district has been named as Chhatrapati SambhajiNagar after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

In Aurangabad, sitting MP Imtiyaz Jaleel, a journalist-turned-politician, who is the Maharashtra unit president of Asaduddiun Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), is pitted against two candidates from the two groups of Shiv Sena. While the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded four-time Lok Sabha MP Chandrakant Khaire, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has put up Sandipanrao Bhumre, a five-time MLA from Paithan, who is currently the Employment Guarantee Minister in the BJP-led Maha Yuti government. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Jaleel had defeated Khaire.

While Jaleel is making all efforts to retain Aurangabad, the two warring Shiv Sena camps are looking to regain foothold in the seat.

Aurangabad district is also the state’s tourism capital - as the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora are located in the district.

In Beed, the BJP high-command replaced two-time sitting MP Dr Pritam Munde with her sister Pankaja Munde, the national general secretary of the party. The Munde sisters are daughters of legendary BJP leader Gopinath Munde and nieces of late Pramod Mahajan. In Beed, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (NCP) has fielded Bajrang Sonwane. Pankaja’s cousin is Dhananjay Munde, who is close to NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, Dhananjay had defeated Pankaja from the family seat of Parli, however, now they seemed to have patched up.

On the other hand, in Jalna, Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines Raosaheb Patil-Danve, who is a five-time sitting MP, faces Dr Kalyan Kale of the Congress, who is a former MLA from Phulambri. Danve’s son, Santosh Danve is currently an MLA from Bokhardhan, a seat that his father represented twice. A grassroots leader, he was among those who had played a major role in building BJP’s network in Maharashtra.

In fact, Antarwali Sarathi, from where Jarange-Patil, the Shivba Sanghatana founder, holds his protests and meetings demanding reservation for Marathas, falls in Jalna.

Among the key issues include farmers' condition and the Maratha-vs-OBC reservation issue.