Shirdi Constituency: A Tug Of War For The Focal Reserved Seat
Shirdi is a reserved SC seat in Maharashtra. Shirdi is renowned for the Saibaba temple, a pilgrimage destination. Earlier, the constituency was a part of Kopargaon constituency and was established separately in 2008. Though the BJP and Congress enjoy dominion in the region, the NCP and Shiv Sena used to win consistently. Shirdi consists of six legislative assemblies, where four of them are occupied by Congress and the rest of the two seats are with the Shiv Sena and the BJP. Assembly segments exhibit a current that supports Congress and its alliances.
In the elections, two-time MP Sadashiv Lokhande is seeking a third term under the banner of the BJP. He has increased his vote share considerably in the previous elections, proving advantageous to Congress as well. Sadashiv Lokhande gained 47.24% of the votes with a 120195 majority in the 2019 election, whereas Congress received 35.58% of the votes. In 2014, the percentages were 36.45 and 22.77, respectively.
Sadashiv Lokhande has a good political track record. He was the three-time MLA (1995, 1999, and 2004) of the Karjat Jamkhed Assembly. He was with the BJP and later switched to the Shiv Sena. During the split, he left Uddhav Thackerey and joined the Eknath Shinde faction, which became the alliance of his former party, BJP.
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Bhausaheb Wackchaure has a history of switching parties. He was the former MP of Shirdi in 2009, under the banner of Shiv Sena. He switched to Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and lost. Then, he contested as an independent candidate in 2019, where he could only secure 3.45% of the votes. Congress candidate Bhausaheb Kamble got 35.58% of the vote, a considerable improvement compared to the 2019 election. Bhausaheb Wackchaure later joined Shivsena (UBT) and has received the ticked to contest in this election.
Shirdi, as a reserved seat, will witness a tug of war for power, and two heavyweight politicians are working for their control of the constituency.
(This story is part of a Timeline. internship project.)
