Navneet Kaur Rana, BJP’s Controversial Candidate Is Trailing In Amravati: Report

BJP’s Navneet Rana, candidate from the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency is trailing according to the media reports. Navneet Kaur Rana’s candidacy in communally sensitive Amravati had stirred discontent within the party and its allies. Actor-turned-independent MP Navneet Kaur Rana’s role has come as a new twist to the political arena in Maharashtra.

Historically, the BJP had the upper hand in the constituency. Though being a familiar face in politics, Navneet chose to contest the election under the BJP banner. However, she had to face several challenges amidst the absence of the BJP workers during the campaign.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP contested in 26 seats and won 23. While the undivided Shiv Sena contested in 22 seats and won 18. The election was fought jointly by BJP and Shiv Sena. However, in the 2019 elections, 24 candidates including 15 independent candidates contested from Amravati. Navneet Rana won the seat by securing 5,10,947 votes. It came as a major surprise to many as the seat has been won by Shiv Sena for the past 25 years. Shiv Sena’s Anandrao Adsul came second with 4,73,996 votes.

Though the seat was caught up in an ugly tussle between the BJP and Shinde Sena, the BJP candidate as per the trend has failed to sail across the seat.

Rana has always remained a controversial figure in politics. In 2014, when she contested the election on an NCP ticket, she and her husband later switched sides to extend her support to BJP. Similarly, after the 2019, post-election victory, the independent candidate sided with the BJP.

However, whether Congress’s campaign relying on the ‘son of soil versus outsider’ has paid off will be answered once the actual results are out.