Nagpur East: NCP (SP)'s Debut Election In BJP Stronghold

Nagpur East constituency is considered a BJP dominion since 2009. Though the Congress usually contested all six assembly seats in Nagpur city, for the first time, the party has allocated the Nagpur East seat to the ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar. This marks the debut election of the NCP (SP) in Nagpur and beginning a new chapter in party’s political history.

The NCP (SP) has nominated Duneshwar Pethe, Nagpur City president of the party and a former corporator, as their candidate for the seat. Pethe will face three-time BJP MLA Krishna Khopde in the Assembly polls. He has been representing the constituency for the past 15 years, making Nagpur East a BJP bastion.

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Khopde has been winning the assembly segment since 2009 and increasing the vote share each time. In the 2009 election, he won the seat by defeating Congress candidate Chaturvedi Satish Zaulal by a margin of 35,216 votes. In 2014, Khopde retained the seat by securing 99,136 votes. He has defeated Congress candidate Abhijit Govindrao Wanjari with a margin of 48,614 votes. In the 2019 polls, BJP leader secured his third consecutive win from Nagpur East seat, defeating Congress’s Purushottam Nagorao Hajare. Khopde garnered 10,3992 votes, while Hajare secured 79,975 votes.

Aside from a legislator, Khopde held many important positions during his during political career, including Nagpur President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Deputy Mayor of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Nagpur President of the BJP, and Standing Committee Chairman of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

As Khapde is gearing up for the fourth win, the party is relying on the presence of BJP corporators in the constituency as well as the development works he carried out in the area. Meanwhile, Pathe, who has served as a corporator, is attempting to leverage the grass-roots influence he holds in the constituency.

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As per the Times of India report, the decision to give East Nagpur seat to the NCP (SP) was taken following a late-night meeting among senior Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders. There are also rumours that Congress leaders expressed displeasure to the party leadership for allocating the seat to the alliance party since there were several aspirants within their camp. The current Congress MLC, Abhijit Wanjari, has also expressed interest in the candidacy. How the NCP (SP) will mobilise support within their alliance partners and garner votes from the electorates to pose a challenge to the BJP is to be looked out for.