Maharashtra Election 2024: There is a tough contest for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra between the ruling Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi alliance. Both the alliances include three parties each and all the parties have used their full strength to win as many seats as possible. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda have campaigned on behalf of the ruling alliance, while Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and Sharad Pawar have campaigned on behalf of the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance.
Although there is tough competition on almost all the seats in the state, everyone’s eyes are on some high profile contests. In the state, 29 assembly seats are reserved for SC and 25 seats for ST. If we talk about high profile contests in the state, the fate of many political bigwigs is to be decided on these seats. In such a situation, it is important to look at five high profile matches of the state.
War between uncle and nephew in Baramati
There is a tough contest this time on Baramati assembly seat, which is considered the stronghold of Pawar clan. Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who has been winning this seat continuously since 1991, is facing a tough challenge this time from his own nephew Yugendra Pawar. NCP leader Sharad Pawar has prepared a strategy to teach a lesson to Ajit Pawar through Yugendra. Ajit Pawar, who had won this seat by a huge margin in the last assembly elections, has had to work hard this time.
During the Lok Sabha elections, his wife Sunetra Pawar had to face defeat in front of Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule. Now his political path is not considered easy even in the assembly elections. This time, Ajit Pawar’s political future is linked to the results of the assembly elections. Yugendra Pawar is the son of Ajit Pawar’s elder brother and has been quite active in Baramati in recent times. Therefore, his challenge seems to be very heavy for Ajit Pawar.
Milind Deora’s challenge to Aditya in Worli
This time everyone’s eyes are on Mumbai’s Worli assembly seat. Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray has re-contested this seat. Shinde faction of Shiv Sena has fielded veteran leader and Rajya Sabha member Milind Deora on this seat. Milind Deora has also been an MP from South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat and is considered to have a strong hold on this area. In such a situation, Aditya Thackeray is stuck in a tough contest.
Sandeep Deshpande, fielded by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, has also increased the problems of Aditya Thackeray. Sandeep Deshpande, who fights for local issues, is considered to have a strong hold on the Marathi speaking people. Aditya Thackeray, who contested the elections for the first time in 2019, had won by more than 89 thousand votes, but this time his political path is not considered easy.
Fadnavis has come to hit ‘Chhaka’ in Nagpur.
Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has again entered the electoral arena from Nagpur South West seat. This assembly seat is considered the stronghold of Devendra Fadnavis because he has been winning elections from this seat for a long time. Fadnavis has won the last five consecutive assembly elections since 1999 and his political position is considered strong in this time’s assembly elections also. Congress has fielded Prafulla Vinod Gudadhe against him, who is trying to challenge Fadnavis. However, Fadnavis had defeated Gudadhe in the 2014 assembly elections.
In the 1999 assembly elections, Fadnavis won the assembly elections for the first time from Nagpur West seat. After this, Fadnavis again won this seat in the 2004 assembly elections. In the 2009 assembly elections, Fadnavis contested from the newly created Nagpur South West seat after delimitation and won. He completed his hat-trick by winning from the same seat again in 2014 and 2019.
Prafulla Gudadhe, who contested against Fadnavis as a Congress candidate, is currently a councilor of Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Prafulla has been fighting for public issues and has the image of an active councillor. He says that this time Fadnavis will have to answer questions related to his accountability towards various issues.
Chief Minister Shinde’s contest with Guru’s nephew
Everyone’s eyes are also on Kopri-Pachpakhadi assembly seat of Thane because Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is contesting from this seat. This time Shinde has to face Kedar Dighe, nephew of his political mentor Anand Dighe. Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has also made a strange political move against Shiv Sena leader and current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who rebelled against him.
He has tried to mount a strong siege against Shinde by fielding Kedar Dighe, nephew of his mentor Anand Dighe. Shinde has been describing Anand Dighe as his political guru on various occasions. After this step taken by Uddhav Thackeray, there is going to be a very interesting contest on the Kopri-Pachpakhadi assembly seat of Thane.
In such a situation, it remains to be seen how much effect Uddhav Thackeray’s Guru move will have. Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency has been considered the stronghold of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. He has been continuously winning from this constituency since 2009 as a candidate of undivided Shiv Sena. Shinde definitely has the support of BJP and Ajit Pawar faction of NCP, but it remains to be seen how effective Uddhav Thackeray’s strategy of teaching Shinde a political lesson will be.
Uddhav Sena’s challenge to Zeeshan Siddiqui
Zeeshan Siddiqui, son of senior NCP leader Baba Siddiqui, is contesting from Bandra East assembly seat. Zeeshan had won the last assembly elections from this seat on Congress ticket but this time he is contesting on Ajit Pawar’s NCP ticket. Zeeshan’s father Baba Siddiqui was shot dead in Mumbai’s Bandra area on the day of Dussehra.
Varun Sardesai has been fielded by Uddhav Sena against Zeeshan. After the split in Shiv Sena in 2022, Varun had decided to remain with Uddhav. He is considered to have a strong hold in Bandra East area. On the other hand, Zeeshan is very popular among the youth and Muslims. Along with this, he is also expected to benefit from the wave of sympathy after his father’s murder.
