Battle for West: EVMs hold the rest!

Lokmat News NetworkChhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Aurangabad West's election fight sealed 18 fates, as Hindutva and land issues took centre stage. The EVMs will declare the victor this Saturday.

After voting day, UBT Sena’s Raju Shinde and Shinde Sena’s Sanjay Shirsat both expressed confidence in their victory. The results will be revealed on Saturday. Candidate Sanjay Shirsat, who supported CM Eknath Shinde during the Shiv Sena split two and a half years ago, was fielded again by the Shinde Sena from Aurangabad West. Shirsat has consistently criticized Uddhav Sena since the party’s split. In response, Uddhav Sena fielded Raju Shinde as its candidate. Other candidates included Anjan Salve from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Ramesh Gaikwad from the RPI (Democratic), among a total of 18 contenders. However, the main contest appeared to be between the two Shiv Sena factions.

The election in the West constituency largely centred on the Hindutva agenda. Shirsat claimed that Uddhav Sena’s Hindutva was fake and equated voting for Uddhav Sena with supporting AIMIM. His campaign emphasized issues like the Satara and Deolai land regularization problems and the overall development of the constituency. Meanwhile, Raju Shinde maintained that voters supported him wholeheartedly.

Increased voter turnout favors Shirsat

In the 2019 Assembly election, the West constituency recorded a 59.55% voter turnout. This time, turnout rose to 60.58%. The impact of the 1% increase will become clear during the counting on Saturday.

Raju Shinde confident of 40,000-50,000 lead

“Voters frustrated with the sitting MLA have supported me overwhelmingly. I thank them for their trust. I am confident of winning with a lead of 40,000-50,000 votes. Only the formal announcement of victory on November 23 remains,” said Raju Shinde, Uddhav Sena candidate.

Sanjay Shirsat predicts 20,000-25,000 votes

“Shiv Sena-BJP supporters and Dalit voters have blessed me with their votes. I will win with a lead of 20,000-25,000 votes. After the hectic campaigning, I took some rest today but still met party workers and citizens in my office to address their issues,” said MLA Sanjay Shirsat, a Shinde Sena candidate.