The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is leading in all seats barring Aurangabad in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, with Aurangabad throwing up a surprising trend. The other major development that early trends are throwing up is from Nanded, where former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Maharashtra Congress Committee President Ashok Chavan is trailing.
In Aurangabad, early trends suggest that the fight is between Independent candidate Harshvardhan Patil and sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Imtiaz Jaleel of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM). As of 11 a.m. Mr Jaleel was leading by a margin of 6,711 votes. The incumbent Member of Parliament Chandrakant Khaire of the Shiv Sena is in third position. Mr Patil is the son in law of BJP state president Raosaheb Danve and won on a Shiv Sena ticket from the Kannad assembly seat of Aurangabad in the 2014 state elections.
Mr Danve, who is also the sitting MP from Jalna, is leading against Vilas Autade of the Congress, while Pritam Munde is leading by a margin of over 44,000 votes from Beed. Ms Munde had won the byelection after her father Gopinath Munde’s demise in 2014. Shiv Sena’s Omraje Nimbalkar is leading in Osmanabad against his cousin and UPA candidate Ranjitsingh Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party. Both candidates have previously faced each other in the 2014 Assembly polls, in which Mr. Patil won from the Osmanabad Assembly seat.
Upset in Nanded?
In Nanded, a major upset may be on the horizon for the Congress, as Prataprao Chikhalikar was leading Mr Chavan by a margin of over 18,000 votes at 11 a.m. Interestingly, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s candidate Yashpal Bhinge had polled over 44,000 votes. Nanded has long been Mr Chavan’s bastion. Congress is also trailing in Hingoli, which they had won in 2014.
The region consists of eight seats, i.e. Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad and Parbhani.
