Lok Sabha Elections 2019: List of key contestants in Maharashtra's prestige battle

The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 for 542 of 543 constituencies, held in seven phases, finally culminated on May 19. Coming to Maharashtra, the state sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha. The polling in the state were held in four phases and the prestige is at stake for the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena and as well as for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance. As Maharashtra is expected to play a prominent role in electing the next government, News Nation brings you the key contestants of the state. The key contestants include several union ministers, several veterans and also few Bollywood stars. Here are the key contestants in the state: 

⦁ Nagpur: Nitin Gadkari (BJP) Vs Nana Patole (Congress)

Nitin Gadkari, who is pitted against Nana Patole of the Congress, is seeking re-election from Nagpur. In 2014, Gadkari had defeated Congress's Vilas Muttemwar by a margin of over two lakh votes. On the other hand, Nana Patole was a BJP candidate in 2014 who had defeated NCP heavyweight Praful Patel from Bhandara-Gondiya seat. However, Patole quit the BJP and also resigned from the post to get back to his parent party - the Congress.

⦁ Chandrapur: Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (BJP) Vs Suresh Dhanorkar (Congress)

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir is seeking re-election for the fourth term from Chandrapur. He is pitted against Congress’s Suresh Dhanorkar, who was in the Shiv Sena earlier. 

⦁ Akola: Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre (BJP) Vs Hidayat Patel (Congress) Vs Prakash Ambedkar (BBM)

Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre is locked in a  triangular contest against Congress's Kunal Patil and Prakash Ambedkar from Dhule. Riding on the Modi wave, Dr Bhamre, who had quit the Shiv Sena to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 defeating Congress nominee Amrish Patel with a margin of 1.30 lakh votes. 

⦁ Nanded: Prataprao Govindrao Chikhalikar (BJP) Vs Ashok Chavan (Congress)

Congress’s Ashok Chavan is up against Shiv Sena’s MLA Pratap Chikhlikar, who switched over to the BJP at the last minute to take on the former CM from Nanded seat. 

⦁ Beed: Pritam Munde (BJP) Vs Bajrang Sonawane (NCP) 

BJP's sitting MP Pritam Munde and the NCP's Bajrang Sonawane are up against ach other in the Beed Lok Sabha seat. Pritam is a daughter of late Gopinath Munde, former state deputy chief minister and Union minister, who had won from the seat in 2014 with a margin of 1.36 lakh votes against Suresh Dhas who was then with the NCP. Pritam Munde swept the bypoll, thereafter, defeating the Congress's Ashokrao Patil by a whopping 6.96 lakh votes, the highest victory margin in the country's Lok Sabha poll history.

⦁ Solapur: Jaisidhesvar Swami (BJP) Vs Suhilkumar Shinde (Congress) Vs Prakash Ambedkar (BBM)

Former Union home minister and senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is also locked in a triangular contest against BJP's Jaisidhesvar Swami  and BBM's Prakash Ambedkar. The constituency has largely been the Congress stronghold. In 2009, Shinde won the seat defeating the BJP. However, in 2014, he lost the seat to the BJP’s Sharad Bansode by around 150,000 votes. It is to be noted that Jaisidhesvar Swami is Lingayat community spiritual leader. On the other hand, Prakash Ambedkar is a grandson of the architect of India’s Constitution and Dalit icon BR Ambedkar. 

⦁ Amravati: Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena) Vs Navaneet Kaur (YSP)

Amravati is the second largest and most populous city of Vidarbha after Nagpur. Adsul Anandrao Vithoba of the Shiv Sena is up against YSP's Navaneet Kaur. In 2014, Adsul Anandrao Vithoba defeated NCP’s Navneet Ravi Rana by over one lakh votes. Vithoba has  held the seat since 2009. 

⦁ Hatkanangale: Dhairyashil Mane (Shiv Sena) Vs Raju Shetti (SWP)

Among the candidates who will be keenly watched is the sitting MP from Maharashtra’s Hatkanangale constituency, Raju Shetti. Shetti is looking to be re-elected for a third time from the constituency and is representing the Swabhimani Paksha (SWP), a party he founded in 2004. Known as the son of the soil, Shetti won his first election in 2009 winning over Nivedita Mane, who was contesting on a NCP ticket with a margin of 9.7 percent (95,060) votes. Then in 2014, he defeated Congress’ Kallappa Awade with an astounding margin of 15 percent (amounting to 1,77,810 votes). It would be interesting to watch if Shiv Sena's Dhairyashil Mane emerge winner in the constituency. 

⦁ Baramati: Supriya Sule (NCP) Vs Kanchan Rahul Kul (BJP)

This time, the BJP has given ts ticket to Kanchan Kul, wife of RSP MLA from Daund, Rahul Kul against NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, though Supriya Sule won the constitueny but Mahadev Jankar, leader of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), gave her a tough fight. 

⦁ Jalna: Raosaheb Danve (BJP) Vs Vilas Keshavrao Autade (Congress)

Maharashtra's Jalna is one of the BJP's stronghold as the Saffron party held the constituency uninterrupted since the 1996 Lok Sabha polls. Raosaheb Danve of the BJP had defeated Vilas Keshavrao Autade of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, both the party has repeated its candidates and it would be interesting to see if the BJP continue to dominate on the seat. 

⦁ Raigad: Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) Vs Sunil Tatkare (NCP)

Minister of state for Heavy Industries Anant Geete from the Shiv Sena is pitted against NCP's Sunil Tatkare in Raigad constituency. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Anant Geete had won the seat in close contest against Sunil Tatkare. He had bagged the seat with the margin of only 2,110 votes. 

⦁ Ahmednagar: Sujay Vikhe Patil (BJP) Vs Sangram Arun Jagtap (NCP)

The BJP has fielded Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of Congress legislative party leader Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil from Ahmednagar constituency. On the other hand, the NCP has fielded local MLA Sangram Jagtap, son of NCP MLC Arun Jagtap. The rivalry between Pawar and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, Radha Krishna’s father, goes back to 1991, when Patil was contesting from the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, which was then called Ahmednagar South, as an independent candidate supported by Janata Dal. He was defeated by Yeshwantrao Gadakh of the Congress. Pawar was then the chief minister. 

⦁ Nashik: Hemant Godse (Shiv Sena) Vs Sameer Bhujbal (NCP)

Sitting Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse is facing the challenge from NCP's Sameer Bhujbal and a former Shiv Sena MLA. Godse had defeated NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal by 1.87 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Interestingly, no sitting MP in this constituency has managed to win again since 1952, except in 1971 when Congress's Bhanudas Kavade managed to retain the seat after winning it earlier in 1967. 

⦁ Mumbai North: Gopal Shetty (BJP) Vs Urmila Matondkar (Congress)

Making her debut in politics, actor Urmila Matondkar is pitted against incumbent BJP MP Gopal Shetty.  Shetty had defeated Congress candidate Sanjay Nirupam by over 4 lakh votes in 2014. 

⦁ Mumbai South: Milind Deora (Congress) Vs Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena)

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant is up against Congress candidate Milind Deora  from Mumbai South. The Congress used to enjoy stronghold in the constituency as Deora’s father Murli Deora was four-term MP from the seat. Milind Deora too is a two-time MP from the constituency before being defeated by Sawant in 2014.

⦁ Mumbai North West: Sanjay Nirupam (Congress) Vs Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena)

Mumbai North West is a constituency that demographically favours both rival alliances of the BJP-Sena and the Congress-NCP. Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar is pitted against Congress candidate Sanjay Nirupam. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Nirupam had lost the Mumbai North seat. On the other hand, Kirtikar defeated Congress’s Gurudas Kamat. 

⦁ Mumbai North Central: Poonam Mahajan (BJP) Vs Priya Dutt (Congress)

Sitting MP Poonam Mahajan of BJP is squaring off against Congress's Priya Dutt in Mumbai North Central constituency. Priya Dutt, daughter of actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt, had lost the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP Pramod Mahajan, had won the constituency with 4,78,535 votes. 

⦁ Maval: Shrirang Barne (Shiv Sena) Vs Parth Pawar (NCP)

Maval Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra has suddenly seen a rise in its profile as NCP chief Sharad Pawar's grand nephew Parth Pawar is contesting his maiden election from this seat against Shiv Sena's sitting MP Shrirang Barne. Prominent candidates in Maharashtra in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Prominent candidates in Maharashtra in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.  

Four Union ministers, including Nitin Gadkari, Hansraj Ahir, Subhash Bhamre and Anant Geete, and two Congress veterans - Ashok Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde  - were among the 867 candidates who were in the fray in Maharashtra, which went to polls in four phases in April. 

The BJP-led NDA under the leadership of Amit Shah is seeking a second term in the office. The Congress-led UPA under Sonia Gandhi's leadership is looking to make a comeback in power. As the BJP and Shiv Sena are in powerin Maharashtra, their performance in the Lok Sabha election will be judged from a very close range before they go for the state Assembly election in October. 

In 2014, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 43 seats, the highest for any alliance so far. The Congress-NCP bonhomie managed to win only two seats. This time, it will be a challenge for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance to repeat the 2014 performance. 

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led NDA won 336 seats of 543, while the UPA won 59 seats, 44 of which were won by the Congress.

According to the exit poll conducted by News Nation,  the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra is likely to get up to 45 per cent of vote share in the state. Out of 48 seats, the BJP is likely to win 33 to 35 seats. The Congress+NCP is likely to win 13 to 15 seats with a vote share of 39 per cent.