Shinde faction gains upper hand district

Mahayuti's flag flies high over ZP,

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The picture of the fiercely contested battle for the 63 seats of the Zilla Parishad (ZP) became clear after the counting of votes on Monday, revealing major changes in the rural politics of the district.

In this election, the Shinde faction emerged as the largest party with 24 seats, followed by the BJP, which won 22 seats. While the Mahayuti has maintained its strong hold on the district, the influence of dynastic politics, defections, and the defeat of wives of prominent leaders have become the focal points of discussion in this election.

Although the BJP and the Shinde faction had announced a Mahayuti alliance in the district, candidates from both parties contested against each other in many places, including Paithan.

All BJP candidates had to contest as independents in Paithan due to technical reasons, and all of them were defeated.

The Shinde faction established its dominance by winning eight out of nine seats, while the Uddhav faction secured only one seat. MLA Abdul Sattar proved his strength in Sillod by winning six out of nine seats, while his staunch opponent, the BJP, won three seats.

However, Shinde faction MLA Ramesh Bornare had to struggle in Vaijapur; the Shinde faction got four out of eight seats.

Kannad MLA Sanjana Jadhav could not make an impact in the tehsil as the Shinde faction got only one seat. The BJP won three and the Uddhav faction secured two seats.

MLA Prashant Bamb avenged his defeat in the municipal council elections in Gangapur and Khuldabad. The BJP won all three seats in Khuldabad, giving a crushing defeat to the NCP (Ajit Pawar).

MLA Anuradha Chavan retained her stronghold in Phulambri by winning three seats, while in Soyegaon, the BJP delivered a major blow to the Shinde faction by winning two seats.

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Nepotism prevails in the results

In the district's politics, the heirs of the leaders have once again proven their strength. Abdul Aamer, son of MLA Abdul Sattar, Shivraj Bhumre, nephew of MP Sandipan Bhumre, Nikhil Chavan, nephew of MLA Anuradha Chavan, Arjun Patil, son of former MLA Nitin Patil, Mahin Multani, daughter of BJP's Idris Multani, and Meenakshi Pawar, daughter of MLA Babanrao Lonikar, have won and made their way into the ZP.

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Defection backfires; leaders' wives suffer blow

Voters have shown the door to candidates who switched parties for selfish reasons on the eve of the elections. Defectors like Bharatsingh Rajput, Vinod Tambe, Chandrakalabai Rathod, Manohar Sonawane, and Kalpana Sonawane have suffered a shocking defeat.

The voters also rejected some prominent leaders' wives on the other hand.

In the Nagad gat, Poonambai Rajput, wife of former Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Udaysingh Rajput, and in the Dhorkin gat Sunita Waghchaure, wife of former NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Sanjay Waghchaure, were defeated.