Maharashtra: There are seven assembly constituencies in Yavatmal district. Currently, all the seven assembly constituencies have MLAs from the ruling Mahagathbandhan. Five constituencies are held by the BJP, one each by the Shiv Sena Shinde faction and one by the NCP Ajit Pawar faction. Due to the changed political equations at this time, all eyes are on the contests in the five assembly constituencies held by the BJP. In the Lok Sabha elections, the voters of both Yavatmal-Washim districts rejected the ruling Mahagathbandhan. Going against the mass base directly benefited the Mahavikas Aghadi. Therefore, the leaders of the Mahavikas Aghadi in the district are currently expressing confidence that their candidates will be elected in all the seven assembly constituencies of the district.
Even though the Mahagathbandhan has a total of seven seats in the district, till yesterday no one was expressing confidence in the BJP’s victory on five seats. But the BJP’s victory in Haryana and the BJP’s success in Jammu and Kashmir have dashed the BJP’s hopes. These results have shaken the confidence of BJP’s local officials and workers about victory. Local BJP Mahayuti workers who were quiet till now are now campaigning aggressively to win this election with a majority. In 2014, BJP had ousted Congress from the district. The same rate fell in 2019 as well. Therefore, the 2024 election has become very prestigious for the BJP. However, this time the political equations have completely changed. Today’s constituents of Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi fought the last two elections separately. This time the fight will start from the nomination itself. In the Mahagathbandhan, BJP has five seats, NCP Ajit Pawar has one and Shiv Sena Shinde Group has one seat. Therefore, the ‘formula’ of the Mahagathbandhan will be five plus one plus one.
There are signs of real confusion in the Mahavikas Aghadi regarding candidature. The three parties fought the last election separately. Therefore, all the three parties in the Mahavikas Aghadi, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (Thackeray) are staking claim to one constituency each. Earlier, there was no success on the part of NCP except Pusad. Even Shiv Sena did not have success anywhere except Digras and Vani. However, Congress has gained lead in most of the constituencies in the past. Therefore, the attention of the district has shifted towards how the ‘formula’ of ticket distribution remains in the Mahavikas Aghadi.
What will BJP play? The real test of the candidates of the ruling and opposition parties will be in the constituencies of Yavatmal, Vani, Kelapur, Umrakhed, Ralegaon. With Digras and Pusad being Banjara dominated constituencies, the atmosphere is favorable for the ruling MLAs. Umrakhed is reserved for Scheduled Castes while Ralegaon and Kelapur are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Therefore, there is still no clarity about who will be the candidate of Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi in these three constituencies. In the last two elections, the BJP was successful in dividing the votes in the Yavatmal constituency on the basis of caste. However, this time the atmosphere has changed. Therefore, the constituencies are keeping an eye on what game the BJP will play to divide the votes here.
