Halba Community Votes And Nagpur Central Seat

In Nagpur Central constituency, the Halba community possesses considerable electoral influence and it comprises a large number of Muslim voters. With a population of around 1.15 lakh solely in Central Nagpur and influence extended to rural constituencies like Umred, Saoner, and Ramtek, the Halba community maintains significant political weightage in the region.

Fielding a candidate by not inviting the wrath of the community is a critical task that political parties has to encounter. The BJP has effectively leveraged the community vote bank, and for the past three terms, it has placed the Halba leader Vikas Kumbhare and won the seat.

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In the 2019 election, Kumbhare won the seat by defeating Congress Dr Ramchandra by a margin of 45,521 votes. In the 2014 election, he retained the seat by defeating Congress candidate Anees Ahmed by 38,071 votes. In the 2019 polls, Kumbhare secured his hat-trick with 75,692 votes. His close rival Bunty Baba Shelke from Congress secured 71,684 votes, and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Abdul Sharique Patel occupied third position with 8,565 votes.

However, Kumbhare’s decision not to contest this time has created confusion in the party. The party has now chosen to field MLC Pravin Datke. Datke is the National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Municipal Corporator, and a former Mayor of Nagpur City. He also served as the Nagpur City President of the party. He has aggressively made claims over his nomination, citing that he has been working in the constituency for many years.

Datke is the son of former teacher-BJP MLC late Prabhakar Datke and belongs to the Kunbi community. How fielding a non-Halba leader works in the electoral prospects of the BJP in Nagpur Central is to look out for.

Meanwhile, Congress has decided to renominate Rishikeh ‘Bunty’ Shelke, the 2019 runner-up from the constituency. The party’s decision to field an OBC candidate has triggered discontent among the Halba community, and even local congress leaders expressed dissatisfaction concerning the possibility of alienating a voter base.

According to Congress leaders’ observation, the caste factor played a critical role in Shelke’s failure last time, where he lost the seat by 4,008 votes, which the party leadership has failed to notice again. Though several Congress leaders from the Nagpur Central argued for a Halba community, as per the reports, Shelke, a general secretary in the National Youth Congress, has obtained the nomination by influencing his connections in Delhi. There are also reports that the Muslim community is dissatisfied with the grand old party since it has not fielded a single Muslim candidate in the 62 assembly constituencies of Vidarbha.

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In a surprising move, veteran Congress leader and former cabinet minister Anees Ahmed announced his candidacy from the Nagpur Central on the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) ticket. He submitted his resignation to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and joined the VBA on October 28, Monday.

“I represented the Nagpur Central assembly seat for 15 years. I noticed that the Congress sold some tickets in the Vidarbha region with almost no representation to communities such as Muslims, Telis and Dalits. I decided to leave Congress because it failed to undertake social engineering,” the Hindu quotes, as Ahmed is saying.

A three-time Congress MLA and staunch Gandhi family loyalist, Ahmed is the 2014 runner-up from the constituency.