Mahayuti suffers huge setback in Vidarbha

The BJPled Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra faced a huge setback in Vidarbha a region that was once its stronghold with the Congress making a noticeable comeback following a neckandneck fight with the saffron camp Of the 10 seats in Vidarbha the BJP and its coalition partners won threeNagpur and Akola were won by the BJP while Buldhana was won by Shiv Sena Shinde The BJPled NDA had won all 10 seats in 2014 and nine in 2019In Vidarbha five of the 10 seats witnessed direct CongressBJP faceoffs Spread across 11 districts the Vidarbha region has 10 Lok Sabha seats and comprises almost 20 per cent of Maharashtras population Once a Congress stronghold Vidarbha has been under the control of the saffron alliance since 2014 Amidst the internal tugofwar between the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA alliances over seatsharing parties have been scrambling for months to strengthen their positionsThe political scene during the first and second phases of elections in the Vidarbha region considered a power centre in Maharashtra indicated a shift in favour of the MVANagpurIn Nagpur the headquarters of the RSS twotime sitting MP and BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari reclaimed his bastion by defeating Congresss Vikas Thakre an MLA from Nagpur West president of Nagpur District Congress Committee and a former mayor in close fight by a margin of 136565Nagpur is also the hometown of BJPrsquos Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule making it a stronghold of the BJPGadkari had confidently stated that he would secure the seat by a margin of five lakh votes While he could not achieve what he claimed her did win the contest to help keep the presence of the BJP in the Vidarbha regionChandrapurReluctant to fight from the seat initially BJPrsquos sixterm MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar jumped into the battle ring and lost Reclaiming the seat that was once won by her husband Congressrsquos Pratibha Dhanorkar the MLA from Warora emerged as the winner Chandrapur was the lone seat in Maharashtra that Congress won in 2019 under the leadership of Suresh alias Balu Dhanorkar who unfortunately passed away in May 2023Following the defeat of veteran BJP leader Hansraj Ahir in the last election the party nominated Mungantiwar the state Forest Minister to contest for the seatIn the 2019 elections Suresh Dhanorkar emerged victorious from Chandrapur securing 559507 votes and defeating fourtime MP Hansraj Ahir who secured 514744 votesConfident of victory since the beginning Dhanorkar fought through tooth and nail within the party to get the ticket from the seat and defeated BJP heavyweight Mungantiwar with a significant margin of 230533RamtekRamtek is a seat that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had represented in 1984 and 1989 This time the contest was between Senarsquos Raju Parve and Congressrsquos Shyamrao Barve For the last two terms 2014 and 2019 the seat was represented by Krupal Tumhane of Shiv Sena Shinde however the BJP had opposed his name for the contest and Raju Parve was nominatedTumhanes supporters now blame the BJP for this decision which they said led to the coalitions defeat Barve meanwhile clinched the victory with a margin of 62560 following a necktoneck contestInitially the Congress had fielded Rashmi Barve But her nomination was rejected over caste validity As a result her husband Shyamrao Barve became the official party candidate and a winner thereafter The Barve couple are said to be close to Congress stalwart Sunil Kedar Kedar is now seen as the sole driving force leading to Barves victoryIn 2019 Kishore Gajbiye was the official Congress candidate from Ramtek against thenundivided Shiv Sena candidate Krupal Tumhane who won the seat Tumane emerged as the winner securing 597126 while his closest rival Gajbhiye secured 470343BhandaraGondiaIn BhandaraGondia constituency the incumbent BJP MP Sunil Mendhe known for his clean image was facing Dr Prashant Padole of the Congress Padole a newcomer to politics and a relative of Congress state president Nana Patole received the ticket after Patole declined to contestAfter 25 years the Congress fielded a candidate Prashant Padole in the BhandaraGondia Lok Sabha constituency in eastern Vidarbha regionIn the last 25 years the Congress always played the role of an alliance partner leaving the BhandaraGondia constituency to the undivided NCP led by Sharad Pawar with senior leader and former Union minister Praful Patel becoming the face of the CongressNCP in BhandaraGondiaAfter the split in the NCP Patel has aligned with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawarrsquos faction Having fielded a candidate this time BhandaraGondia which is the paddy belt of Vidarbha was a litmus test for the Congress which the party has managed to pass with flying coloursIn the 2019 elections Mendhe secured victory for the BJP with a significant margin of 197394 votes gathering a total of 650243 votes He defeated NCPrsquos Panchabudhe Nana Jairam who received 452849 votes However in a reverse from the trend in 2019 Mendhe managed to get only 377681 against Padole who emerged as a winner with 397512 votesGadchiroliChimurIn this seat which is part of the Red Corridor the BJP made its third attempt to secure a win but failed Notable candidates in the 2024 GadchiroliChimur Lok Sabha Constituency were Ashok Madhavrao Nete from the BJP Dr Namdeo Dasaram Kirsan from the Indian National Congress Nete a twotime incumbent MP faced 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 the Chimur seat added a political dynamic to the race and helped Kirsan emerge victoriousThe credit for the win can be given to Wadettiwar who was the driving force behind Kirsanrsquos election campaign The party did not send any start campaigner at the national level to any of Kirsans rallies and roadshows Throughout the campaign Wadettiwar was present on almost every road trip and rally with Kirsan in the Naxaliteaffected constituencyIn the 2019 elections Nete secured victory for the BJP with a significant margin of 77526 votes gathering a total of 519968 votes He defeated Dr Namdeo Dalluji Usendi of the INC who received 442442 votesThe situation turned in favour of Congress in 2024 with Kirsan securing 582455 votes against Nete who bagged 453850 votesYavatmalWashimThe YavatmalWashim constituency exemplified the pressures of the seatsharing process However now many are wondering if setting aside fivetime Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali a decision met with discontent within the Shindeled party was a huge mistake As per sources Incumbent Gawli was denied a ticket from the seat owing to opposition from the BJP and prevailing antiincumbency sentimentsIn her place the Shiv Sena nominated Rajashree Patil wife of the former Hingoli MP Hemant Patil Patil faced Shiv Sena UBT candidate Sanjay Deshmukh who successfully clinched a clean victory from the seat with a margin of 86198 votesIn the 2019 general election Sena candidate Bhavana Pundlikrao Gawali secured victory with a margin of 117939 votes garnering a total of 542098 votes Gawali defeated Thakre Manikrao Govindrao of the INC who received 424159 votesWardhaA historically significant constituency traditionally aligned with Mahatma Gandhirsquos legacy witnessed an unprecedented absence of Congress participation Amar Kale a former congress MLA from the region aligned himself with the NCP SP and emerged as the partyrsquos nominee handpicked by Pawar himself NCP which previously conceded this seat to Congress not only secured it but relinquished its claims on other constituencies The move now seems to be a major turning pointNCP leaders had since the beginning said that they aimed to unseat the twoterm BJP incumbent Ramdas Tadas who clinched victory in 2019 with 578364 votes outpacing Congressrsquos Charulata Tokas who garnered 391173 votesMaking Sharad Pawars calculations true Kale managed to win the seat with a margin of 38977 Kale secured 279999 votes as against BJP candidate Tadas who secured 241022AmravatiCongressrsquos Balwant Wankhade emerged victorious in the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra overcoming a tough challenge from BJP candidate Navneet Rana Wankhade won by a margin of over 15000 votes securing a significant win for the Congress partyAmravati was one of the most riveting and closely watched contests amongst the 10 seats in the Vidarbha region Actorturnedpolitician Navneet Rana who secured victory in the 2019 elections as an Independent with NCP support contested as BJPrsquos candidate facing fierce internal opposition in the Mahayuti Coalition The 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 the Congress had nominated Balwant Wankhede an MLA from the Daryapur assembly constituency backed by Congress leader Yashomati ThakurBachchu Kadu founder of the Prahar Janshakti Party and a part of the BJPled Mahayuti coalition too nominated his candidate Dinesh Bub who emerged a second runnerup by securing 77922 votesBuldhanaBuldhana renowned as the powerhouse of state politics showcased an intriguing showdown between Shiv Senarsquos Prataprao Jadhav and Prof Narendra Khedekar of Shiv Sena UBT making it a closely watched contestJadhav now aligned with Shindersquos faction has won the contest with a margin of 29376 votes and is now geared up for a fourth termIn the 2019 elections Jadhav secured victory with 521977 votes defeating NCPrsquos Dr Rajendra Shingare who received 388690 votesIncumbent Jadhav representing Sena Shinde had openly announced ahead of polls that he doesnt see a significant threat from Khedekar the candidate from Sena UBT Jadhav has predicted that Khedekar might face challenges due to a potential vote split with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi on one side and a farmer leader eating into the MVAs share on the other which turned out to be true and a key factor in Jadhavs victoryJadhav emerged victorious for the fourth time by securing 348238 votes Khedekar on the other hand bagged 318862 votesAkolaKeeping in the legacy of his father BJP candidate Anup Dhotre emerged the winner from the Akola seat amid a tight contest between Prakash Ambedkar former twotime Lok Sabha MP and former Rajya Sabha member on one side and Dr Abhay Patil of the Congress the partyrsquos general secretary and an orthopaedic surgeon by profession on the otherIn the 2019 election Sanjay Dhotre clinched victory with 554444 votes defeating Prakash Ambedkar who secured 278848 votesHowever in 2024 Dhotre managed to reclaim the seat with 457030 votes winning with a margin of 40626 defeating Congresss Abhay Patil who secured 40002410Total no of seats in Vidarbha Overall contestsNAGPURNitin GadkariBJP winner650769 136565Vikas Thakre Congress514204CHANDRAPURPratibha Dhanorkar Congress winner640780 230533Sudhir Mungantiwar BJP410247RAMTEKShyamrao Barve Congress winner476658 62560Raju Parve BJP414098BHANDARAGONDIASunil Mendhe BJP377681Dr Prashant Padole Congress Leading397512 19831GADCHIROLICHIMURAshok Nete BJP453850Dr Kirsan Namdeo Congress Leading582455 128605YAVATMALWASHIMSanjay DeshmukhShiv SenaUBT Leading546739 86198Rajshree Patil Mahalle Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde460541WARDHARamdas Tadas BJP241022Amar KaleNCPSP winner279999 38977AMRAVATIBalwant Wankhede Congress Leading426434 11899Navneet Rana BJP414535BULDHANAPrataprao JadhavShiv Sena Eknath Shinde Winner348238 29376Prof Narendra Khedekar Shiv SenaUBT318862AKOLAAnup Dhotre BJP winner457030 40626Abhay Patil Congress416404