- Tuesday, November 19, 2024
This election will decide the political future of Sharad Pawar, chief minister Eknath Shinde, his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar
By: Shajil Kumar
STAKES could not be higher for a number of regional heavyweights in Maharashtra as the state goes to the polls on Wednesday.
This will be a make-or-break election for the state satraps like Sharad Pawar, chief minister Eknath Shinde, his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
The two Pawars, Shinde and Thackeray are engaged in an intense and riveting battle to seek popular legitimacy for their parties, and which way the voters turn could spell the end of the road for two of them when the results of the election to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly are declared on November 23.
The senior Pawar, who will turn 84 next month, delivered a debilitation blow to his nephew, whose breakaway faction was recognised as the real Nationalist Congress Party by the Election Commission, in the Lok Sabha elections and is looking to strike a knockout punch in the assembly polls, while Ajit Pawar is hoping to bounce back.
The Lok Sabha results, however, gave both Thackeray, who heads Shiv Sena (UBT) after the Shinde-led group was recognised as the real Shiv Sena, and the chief minister something to cheer about, rendering the assembly election the air of a final match that could deliver only one winner.
While the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Thackeray’s party are part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, which has the Congress as its third important player, the NCP and Shiv Sena are allied with the BJP-led ruling Mahayuti.
How the four regional satraps perform is bound to dictate the politics of the two national parties.
The BJP is contesting 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81 seats, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has fielded candidates in 59 constituencies. In the opposition alliance, the Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and the NCP (SP) 86.
What has added a sharp edge to the factional fights is the fact that the two claimants of Shiv Sena’s popular legacy have squared off against each other in over 50 seats, while the nominees of the two Pawars are up against each other in nearly 37 constituencies.
At the centre of poll sweepstakes involving the two Sena is the question mark over “Mumbai ka king kaun”, as many of their workers said in a reference to the sway the undivided Shiv Sena had over the country’s financial capital and which is now being contested by the two parties.
The uncle-nephew battle is the sharpest in western Maharashtra, a prosperous region where the Pawar clan is rooted.
Sharad Pawar, a four-term former chief minister of the state whose wily moves have shaped the state’s politics for decades, has called for the defeat of betrayers, a reference to Ajit Pawar and his nominees.
The nephew has refrained from using sharp words against him, wary of stirring popular sympathy for the ageing leader who had handed him a big defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
The NCP (SP) had won eight seats in the Lok Sabha polls against the NCP’s one. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had emerged victorious in nine constituencies against the Sena’s seven.
The poll season was dominated by conflicting narratives ranging from the opposition’s planks of economic distress, farmers’s woes, the Centre’s “discrimination” against Maharashtra and the BJP’s alleged role in breaking up the two regional parties to the ruling alliance touting its welfare schemes, development projects and the Hindutva agenda against what it slammed as the MVA’s appeasement politics.
But when the results are declared on Saturday, it will not only announce the popular verdict on the two differing agendas but also seal the fate of some of the most important players in the state’s politics.
Cash for votes
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde was caught in a huge row after Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) chief Hitendra Thakur on Tuesday accused him of distributing money to voters in Palghar on the eve of the Maharashtra assembly polls.
The saffron party denied the claims, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) accused it of misusing government machinery and engaging in corrupt practices.
Tawde, however, asserted that he was in Nalasopara to provide guidance regarding election procedures and challenged the opposition parties to verify his activities.
Talking to reporters, BVA MLA Thakur said, “Some BJP leaders informed me that party general secretary Tawde had come to Virar to disburse cash to influence voters. I thought a national leader like him would not stoop to such a trivial task. But I saw him here. I urge the Election Commission to take action against him and the BJP.”
The BVA legislator alleged the hotel Tawde was staying shut the CCTV recording.
“The hotel administration seems to be in cahoots with Tawde and the BJP. They only activated their CCTV after we requested it. He was distributing money to manipulate voters,” he said.
A video has surfaced on social media in which BVA workers can be seen confronting Tawde outside the hotel where he was staying.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Purnima Chowgule Shringi of Zone II, Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate, confirmed that two first information reports have been registered at the Tulinj police station in connection with incidents linked to the hotel where the alleged cash distribution took place.
Without providing further details, she assured a thorough investigation into the incident.
The BJP, however, dismissed Thakur’s claims, terming them as a mere publicity stunt.
Leaders of the opposition MVA demanded a comprehensive investigation by the Election Commission, with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut suggesting a conspiracy against Tawde by some BJP leaders.
10 million voters in Mumbai
The voter count in Mumbai has crossed the 10 million mark, up from 9.89 million during the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year, a civic official said.
At the time of the Lok Sabha polls, Mumbai had 9,895,602 eligible voters, including 2,516,667 in the island city and 7,464,974 in the suburban district, as per EC data.
Mumbai has 36 assembly constituencies – 10 in the island city and 26 in the suburban district.
There are 410 candidates, including 105 in the island city and 315 in the suburban district.
A total of 10,117 voting booths have been set up, of which 2,538 are in the island city and 7,579 in the suburban district.
Across Maharashtra, there will be 100,186 polling booths this time, compared with 96,654 booths in the 2019 assembly elections.
Around 600,000 state government employees will be involved in election duties. (PTI)
