Congress vs BJP for 5 of 10 seats in Maharashtra's Vidarbha

Amid the internal tugofwar between the political alliances in the state Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA over seatsharing the parties are scrambling to make their sides stronger The political scene in the first and second phase of elections in Vidarbhamdashthe power centre in Maharashtra politicsmdashwill indicate which way the wind is blowing for the Lok Sabha elections 2024In the Vidarbha region five out of 10 seats will see direct Congress versus BJP faceoffs Spread across 11 districts the Vidarbha region has 10 Lok Sabha seats and has almost 20 per cent of Maharashtrarsquos population While Nagpur Chandrapur Ramtek SC BhandaraGondiya and GadchiroliChimur ST will go to polls in Phase1 on April 19 the remaining fivemdashAmravati SC YavatmalWashim Wardha Buldhana and Akolamdashwill go to polls in the second phase to be held on April 26From left Rajshree Hemant Patil SS Eknath Shinde Yavatmal Washim Sudhir Mungantiwar BJP Chandrapur Prakash Ambedkar VBA Akola Kishor Gajbhiye Independent Ramtek Navneet Rana BJP Amravati and Dr Namdev Kirsan Congress GadchiroliChimurOnce a stronghold of the Congress Vidarbha has been under the control of the saffron alliance since 2014 While a direct contest between the BJP and Congress is evident in five constituencies there will be an intense faceoff between two factions of the Shiv Sena in two constituencies Additionally there will be oneonone battles between Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde and Congress BJP and NCP SP and a threeway contest involving BJP Congress and the Prahar Janshakti Partymidday gives you a lowdown of the electoral contests and rivalries in Vidarbha across all 10 seats including the five up for election in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024gtgt NagpurIn Nagpur the headquarters of the RSS twotime sitting MP and BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari is facing off against Congressrsquos Vikas Thakre an MLA from Nagpur West President of Nagpur District Congress Committee and a former mayor Gadkari enjoys a close association with RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat Nagpur is also the hometown of BJPrsquos Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule making it a BJP stronghold Gadkari has confidently stated that he will secure the seat by a margin of five lakh votes leading many to perceive the electoral contest as onesided However Thakre is relying on his strong ties with the local community and is determined to challenge the perception of an inevitable outcomegtgt ChandrapurIn Chandrapur another intense battle unfolds BJPrsquos sixterm MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar is pitted against Congressrsquos Pratibha Dhanorkar the MLA from Warora Chandrapur known for its coal mines and the TadobaAndhari Tiger reserve holds significant importance for both parties It was the lone seat in Maharashtra that Congress won in 2019 under the leadership of Suresh alias Balu Dhanorkar who passed away in May 2023 Following veteran BJP leader Hansraj Ahirrsquos defeat in the last election the party has nominated Mungantiwar the state Forest Minister to contest for the seat Dhanorkar is now vying to retain the seat won by her late husband while Mungantiwar is sparing no effort to oust the Congress and reclaim the constituencyJP Nadda was campaigning for BJPrsquos candidate from BhandaraGondia Sunil Mendhe and GadchiroliChimur Ashok Netegtgt RamtekFormer Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao represented Ramtek in 1984 and 1989 For the Lok Sabha elections 2024 the contest for the seat is between Senarsquos Raju Parve and Congressrsquo Shyamrao Barve Initially Congress had fielded Rashmi Barve but her nomination was rejected over caste validity As a result her husband Shyamrao who had also filed nomination papers became the official party candidate The Barves are said to be close to Congress stalwart Sunil Kedar For the last two termsmdash2014 and 2019mdashthe seat was represented by Krupal Tumhane However BJP opposed his name for the contest this year Another candidate Kishore Gajbiye has decided to run independentlygtgt BhandaraGondiaThe BhandaraGondia Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra was established in 2008 following delimitation Prior to this it was known as the Bhandara constituency In the upcoming election the incumbent BJP MP Sunil Mendhe known for his clean image faces Dr Prashant Padole of the CongressPadole a newcomer to politics and a relative of Congress state president Nana Patole received the ticket after Patole declined to contest The contest is influenced by NCP Working President Praful Patelrsquos opposition to Patole Despite perceptions of a onesided contest Rahul Gandhi recently addressed a public meeting in support of Padolegtgt GadchiroliChimurThe BJP is making its third attempt to secure a win in this crucial constituency which includes significant portions of Naxalaffected areas and is part of the Red Corridor Notable candidates in the 2024 GadchiroliChimur Lok Sabha Constituency include Ashok Madhavrao Nete from BJP Dr Namdev Dasaram Kirsan from the Congress and Hitesh Pandurang Madavi from the Vanchit Bahujan AgadiNete a twotime incumbent MP faces competition from Kirsan a former Maharashtra government employee who is relatively new to politics Kirsanrsquos affiliation with Vijay Wadettiwar the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly representing Chimur seat adds another layer of intrigue to the racegtgt Yavatmal WashimThe YavatmalWashim constituency exemplifies the pressures of the seatsharing process Due to opposition from the BJP and prevailing antiincumbency sentiments fivetime Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali was replaced a decision met with discontent within the Shindeled party In her place the Shiv Sena nominated Rajashree Patil wife of the former Hingoli MP Hemant Patil who was omitted from the candidate list Additionally the Shiv Sena Uddhav Bal Thackeray has put forward Sanjay Deshmukh as its candidategtgt WardhaA historically significant constituency traditionally aligned with Mahatma Gandhirsquos legacy Wardha may witness an unprecedented absence of Congress participation Amar Kale aligning himself with the Sharad Pawarled NCP SP emerges as the partyrsquos nominee handpicked by Pawar himself NCP which previously conceded this seat to Congress now securesgtgt AmravatiThe most riveting and closely watched contest unfolds here Actorturnedpolitician Navneet Rana who secured victory in the 2019 elections as an Independent with NCP support now emerges as BJPrsquos candidateThe BJPrsquos decision to deny the seat to Shiv Sena has caused discontent among Shindersquos aide Anand Adsul a fivetime representative of the constituency On the other hand Congress presents Balwant Wankhede the Daryapur MLA as its candidategtgt BuldhanaBuldhana renowned as the powerhouse of Maharashtra politics is set for an intriguing showdown between Shiv Senarsquos Prataprao Jadhav and Professor Narendra Khedekar of Shiv Sena UBT Jadhav is vying for a fourth term while the entry of prominent farmer leader Ravikant Tupkar adds another layer of interest to the racegtgt AkolaAkola witnesses a tight contest between Prakash Ambedkar a twotime Lok Sabha MP and former Rajya Sabha member challenging Anup Dhotre son of fourtime BJP MP Sanjay Dhotre Notably orthopaedic surgeon Dr Abhay Patil Congressrsquos General Secretary too is in fray