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Journalism of Courage
On November 20, voters of Nanded will be voting in a new MP and the electoral battle here just got more interesting with former Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambjajinagar) MP Imtiaz Jaleel deciding to throw his hat in the ring. As BJP goes all out to recapture this seat, the Congress has an uphill task to regain the seat left vacant by the death of its MP Vasantrao Chavan .
Nanded, the home turf of former Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan, had elected veteran Congress leader Vasantrao Chavan for the Parliament in 2024. Ashok Chavan by then had defected to BJP, just before the polls, taking with him almost the entire leadership of Congress in the district.
Pratap Patil Chikhalikar, the sitting BJP MP, while a long time rival of Ashok Chavan had mended ways, and Nanded was supposed to be an easy win for him, but it was Vasantrao who won Nanded with a comfortable margin. This was a personal loss to Ashok Chavan, whose family has ruled Nanded over the last two generations. The bypoll was necessitated due Vasantrao’s death in Hyderabad in August, and will be held along with the Assembly election to November.
Earlier this week, Jaleel announced he would contest the bypolls. “Nanded was the first area in Maharashtra where AIMIM had made its presence felt. The district unit is strong and there is palpable anger among Muslims that the only Muslim MP from Maharashtra was not elected back,” he told The Indian Express.
Jaleel, a first time MP from Aurangabad, had lost elections to Shinde Sena’s Sandeepan Bhumra. Atthat time, AIMIM had made its electoral presence felt in Maharashtra when corporators from the party were elected from the district. Nanded has a sizeable Muslim population which Jaleel hopes to tap in.
While Congress has declared that Ravindra, son of Vasantrao, as its candidate, BJP is yet to disclose its cards. Chikhalikar has already expressed his desire to recontest the seat but a section of BJP, especially those who came aboard with Ashok Chavan, wants the former CM to contest the bypolls. A section of BJP in Nanded feel Ashok Chavan can win back the seat for the party. Ashok Chavan had represented Nanded in 2014 before being defeated by Chikhalikar.
Jaleel’s entry could divide Muslim votes which have traditionally gone to the Congress. During the 2024 Loksabha election, the Congress had managed to benefit from the Maratha agitation spearheaded by activist Manoj Jaranage Patil. It hopes the momentum will continue for the bypoll, and they win back the seat.
