Rural constituencies emerge as king maker in LS polls

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency witnessed voting on May 13 and out of six assembly constituencies, three rural constituencies - Kannad, Vaijapur, and Gangapur - recorded the maximum voting percentage. Hence it is clear that these rural constituencies have emerged as a kingmaker and the results are to be ought on June 4.

As per the statistics, the polling percentage in Kannad was 66.78 pc, Gangapur was 65.44 pc and Vaijapur was 64.80 pc, while the lowest percentage recorded in Aurangabad Central was 60.40 pc, Aurangabad West was 60.58 pc and Aurangabad East was 61.11 pc. Out of the total 20.60 lakh voters, the fate of the candidates was decided by 12.99 lakh voters.

In 2019, due to the Maratha factor, the Shiv Sena candidate had to taste defeat and the AIMIM candidate won with the support of Dalit and Muslim votes. However, the Sena candidate had polled all the OBC votes.

In the 2024 polls, the scene got adverse. It was OBC versus Maratha. There was a mixed response from the voters. It is feared that there is a division of votes on a large scale amongst the major candidates in the fray. Hence the votes polled by candidates from the above rural constituencies will emerge them as the winner.

Assumptions of lead

MVA candidate Chandrakant Khaire hopes that he has polled the votes of Maratha, OBC, Muslims, Dalits, and others from all the booths. Hence he would won with the lead of 1 lakh votes.

Mahayuti candidate Sandeepan Bhumre is also hoping to to lead by 1 lakh votes and emerge as a winner as he claims to have polled votes of Marathas, OBCs, and other communities due to the Modi wave.

AIMIM candidate Imtiaz Jaleel is relying on Muslim and Dalit votes and is confident of securing the votes of the account-holders of the Adarsh Scam, the intellectuals, and the Hindu votes of the city. Hence he is also hoping to emerge as winner by a lead of 1 lakh votes.