Sanjay Jadhav vs Mahadev Jankar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emotional appeal to the voters to elect "younger brother" Mahadev Jankar, who is the founder of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and a MahaYuti ally, has brought a twist in the elections in Maharashtra's Parbhani constituency in the drought-hit Marathwada region.
PM Modi's call to elect Jankar to the Lok Sabha to speed up development of Parbhani and water scarcity hit Marathwada has made the fight more interesting as BJP is particularly arguing that with the election of PM Modi-led government and MahaYuti in Maharashtra, a slew of development projects can be taken up on a fast track basis. Incidentally, Jankar comes from the Dhangar community which, along with Hatkar community, is almost 6.50 lakh in Parbhani and both these communities will play a major role in deciding the fate of Jankar or his immediate rival, and Shiv Sena UBT nominee and the sitting MP Sanjay Jadhav who comes from the politically important Maratha community.
In addition, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) nominee Panjab Dakh and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Gulam Alamgir are also in the fray, making the fight more nail-biting. Although Jadhav and Jankar are locked in a direct fight, they face a huge challenge to avoid a split in their votes due to the presence of candidates from VBA and BSP. After almost two decades, the poll symbols including bow and arrow, hand, clock and lotus will be missing from the Parbhani constituency for the first time. Jankar is contesting on whistle symbol while Jadhav on flaming torch (mashal).
Further, Dakh is approaching voters with a gas cylinder as his party's symbol and Alamgir with an elephant as the party's symbol. Jadhav is banking on over 8 lakh voters and around 2.5 lakh Muslim voters while Jankar apart from mobilising support from Dhangar and Hatkar communities is making efforts to lure nearly 5 lakh voters from various communities from Other Backward Classes and 3 lakh Dalits. Jadhav hopes to cash in on the recent pro-Maratha reservation protests and also to get votes from Muslims and minorities who are quite vocal against the BJP. Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray along with Maha Vikas Aghadi partners addressed poll rallies for Jadhav with a resolve to retain the seat in order to derail BJP's Mission 454 plus in Maharashtra.