The fate of high-profile BJP leader and Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is often described as a prime ministerial aspirant, would be sealed on Thursday when Nagpur along with six other constituencies of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra goes to polls.
In Nagpur, Gadkari faces Congress candidate Nana Patole, a former BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondiya.
Besides Nagpur, other constituencies that are going to polls are Wardha, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Yavatmal-Washim.
In Chandrapur, minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir is taking on Congress candidate Suresh Dhanorkar, who resigned as a Shiv Sena MLA from Warora and join the grand old party.
The Gadkari-Patole clash in Nagpur is being keenly watched across the country.
The main issue in Vidarbha is agrarian distress and farmer's suicides. In the last 2 weeks, three farmers have committed suicide in Yavatmal district.
Nearly 1.3 crore voters comprising 66.7 lakh males, 63.6 lakh females and 181 from ''others'' category will cast their votes on April 11.
Around 14,731 polling stations have been set up by the Election Commission. A direct contest is expected in the majority of the seven seats between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the Congress-NCP front but the entry of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the SP-BSP combine in all the seats have made the contest interesting.
Meanwhile, security was beefed up in the Gadchiroli district in the wake of Maoist attack in Dantewada in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh in which BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi and four policemen were killed. Gadchiroli borders Chhattisgarh and Telangana and as corridor used by Maoists.
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