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Congress chief Nana Patole leading in Sakoli against BJP newcomer
Nana Patole has won the Sakoli seat in 2009 and in 2019, however the constituency’s anti-incumbent streak may provide an opening for BJP’s Avinash Brahmankar
Congress key candidate Nana Patole is leading from Maharashtra's Sakoli seat as per ECI's official website.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has fielded Maharashtra Congress chief, Nana Patole, who is vying for a third term from the Sakoli assembly constituency, against the Mahayuti alliance’s Avinash Anandrao Brahmankar, from the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.
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Nana Patole
Nana Falgunrao Patole, who hails from a farming family in Sukli village in Sakoli, has been a torchbearer for issues concerning the Vidharba’s farming and OBC communities. In 1990 he joined the Indian National Congress but parted ways with them in 2008, after which he first secured his position as MLA for the Sakoli constituency in 2009 as a member of the BJP.
Soon after his stint as Sakoli MLA, he also became the MP for the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency, where Sakoli is located, in 2014. In 2017, Patole accompanied farmers on a march in Akola against the BJP’s failure to meet their demands for a loan waiver, and also tendered his resignation from his Lok Sabha seat to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, citing the BJP's double standards on its farmers' policies. He rejoined the Congress and won from the Sakoli assembly seat in 2019 by a margin of 6240 votes.
Avinash Brahmankar
The BJP has introduced a newcomer to electoral politics, Avinash Brahmankar, to compete against the veteran Patole. The 61-year-old who resides in Sakoli’s Salebardi region, is a graduate from Nagpur University and has listed his occupation as a farmer. During his campaign, he has been projected as the ‘real son of the soil’ from Sakoli and has focused on him as an ‘everyman’ who has been involved with regional issues. On social media platform Instagram, he has promoted his stance as the people’s power vs money power, referring to Congress candidate Patole as the latter.
The predominantly rural constituency of Sakoli will take into account issues surrounding farm loan waivers, reservations for the local Kunbi community, issues facing tribal communities and employment, with both major candidates boasting strong ties to the agricultural sector. The constituency has elected BJP and Congress candidates as legislative assembly members alternately every election cycle, with a strong anti-incumbent streak.
Voting for the Maharashtra Assembly elections was held on November 20 in a single phase and counting for all 288 constituencies will take place on November 23, revealing the result of the long standing battle between two key alliances - the ruling Mahayuti (BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP) and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP).
