Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Five northern districts can throw up many surprises

Mumbai: The vegetable bowl of North Maharashtra is expected to witness a lot of churning in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha polls.

The five districts of the region - Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nashik, Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar) - have a big agrarian belt and vast tribal areas spread in eight Lok Sabha and 47 Vidhan Sabha constituencies.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and undivided Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena won all the eight seats. In the 2024 polls, severe resentment of the farmers led to the BJP getting just two seats as against the earlier six and Shiv Sena, now led by Eknath Shinde, could not open its account in the region.

On the other hand the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies - Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) won two seats each.

The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar-led Maha Yuti is heavily banking on its flagship scheme—Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana—for paying dividends in the region come elections.

If one goes by the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has a clear dominance, but the farmers' issue is also a cause for concern.

The most notable leader from the region is NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal, a veteran OBC leader, who is also the founder of All India Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, which is opposing Maratha reservation from the OBC quota.

It may be recalled, Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, the son of state Revenue Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, lost the Lok Sabha elections to NCP (SP)’s Naresh Lanke this year from the Ahmednagar seat. Sujay is the grandson of Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil and great-grandson of Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil. The Vikhe-Patils are one of the prominent political families synonymous with Ahmednagar.

Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil was the founder of the first sugar factory in the cooperative sector in Loni.

Veteran politician Eknath Khadse, who switched over from BJP to NCP (SP), is expected to play a major role. Khadse, who was close to late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, was denied ticket last time and instead his daughter Rohini Khadse was fielded, who lost. Khadse, a OBC leader, was keen to return to the BJP, however, Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan blocked it.

North Maharashtra: Notable facts

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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