Triangular Contest Likely In Murtizapur
The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) has fielded new face Samrat Dongardive as its candidate for Murtizapur assembly constituency. He had joined the party a few months ago. Distressed over giving tickets to Dongardive, Ravi Rathi, who served as a state organisation secretary of the party, quit Pawar Group and joined the BJP.
Dongardive has become the first candidate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from the Akola district. He is fielded against sitting BJP MLA Harish Marotiappa Pimple. Pimple has been winning the seat since 2009 and is seeking his fourth term from Murtizapur.
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In the 2019 assembly election, Pimple won the seat, securing 59,527 votes. He defeated Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) candidate Awachar Pratibha Prabhakar by a margin of 1910 votes. In the triangular fight, VBA gave a tough fight and garnered 57,617 votes. NCP’s Ravi Rathi retreated to third position with 41,155 votes.
Meanwhile, VBA has fielded Dr. Sugata Waghmare for the seat. Analysing the past election results, Vanchit Aghadi is positive about the poll prospects. With the candidature of Waghmare, there are signs of change in the political climate of Murtizapur, Loksatta reports.
The constituency is likely to witness a three-cornered contest between Mahayuti, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), and VBA.
Murtizapur is a Scheduled Castes reserve seat. The 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra will go to polls on November 20 and counting of votes will take place on November 23. The Assembly elections mark first one in the state after Shiv Sena and NCP split in 2022, and 2023 respectively.
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The ruling Mahayuti alliance consists of the BJP, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena, and the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The opposition alliance comprise the INDIA bloc’s MVA or the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which has the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), or SS (UBT) led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, the NCP (SP) faction led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress.
