Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Elections are no longer contested ward by ward in the traditional manner. With the municipal elections to be held under the prabhag system, senior leaders of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi assessed the preparedness of aspirants by posing pointed questions during interviews, including whether they were aware of the caste-wise voter composition in their respective prabhags.
Following instructions from the party leadership, city and district office-bearers accepted applications from aspirants seeking to contest on the Vanchit ticket between December 8 and 14. A total of 395 aspirants collected application forms, of whom 350 expressed willingness to contest on the Vanchit ticket. By 8.30 pm on Monday (December 15), interviews of 125 aspirants were conducted at the party office at Kranti Chowk by district in-charge Arundhati Shirsat, state executive member Amit Bhuigal, western division district observer Yogesh Ban, and eastern division district observer Prabhakar Bakale.
During the interviews, the focus was on whether an aspirant, even if financially weak, was a full-time movement worker, had a strong bond with voters, and maintained consistent public outreach. The panel also examined whether the aspirant had consistently raised issues related to basic civic problems in the prabhag or was merely testing electoral luck.
Questions asked during the interviews included:
— Since when have you been associated with the ideology of Vanchit?
— Are you currently a full-time worker or engaged in social work alongside a job?
— Are you known across different localities in the prabhag?
— What is the caste-wise voter strength in the prabhag?
— Have you ever led or participated in agitations on pressing local issues?
— How strong is your overall public connection in the prabhag?
—- What is your strategy for winning the election?
—- What is your financial plan to take on strong rival candidates?