Lok Sabha Elections 2019: After Sharad Pawar’s exit , many aspirants for NCP ticket in Madha constituency

After NCP chief Sharad Pawar , who once represented the Madha Lok Sabha constituency, announced that he won’t contest the 2019 parliamentary elections, the party has still not announced any candidate from here.

On the plains of Madha sits an emptiness. This Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituency which came into existence in 2008, after delisting, once had Sharad Pawar as its sitting MP.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has stepped back from his earlier decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Madha in Maharashtra. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

The void has been created by Pawar’s announcement that he will not contest Lok Sabha elections again. The void exists today because the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has still not announced who the party will field from here in the 2019 election.

NCP leader Vijyasinh Mohite Patil is the sitting MP in Madha, a largely rural constituency, where most voters are farmers.Parts of constituency, which fall under Solapur and Satara districts, are also known to be drought-ridden areas. The constituency, therefore, does allow the Peasants and Workers Party to have a voice.

Multiple aspirants have sought the ticket, making things complicated for the NCP.

When Pawar contested from Madha in 2009, he won by a record margin - 3.14 lakh votes. In 2014, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil won by a reduced margin of 25,000 votes over Sadabhau Khot of the Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS).

The BJP is also looking for the right candidate to ensure a power shift here.

BJP is rumoured to be considering Subhash Deshmukh, co-operative minister in the Maharashtra cabinet to be the Madha candidate.

Pawar not contesting Madha will always be seen as his making way for his grand nephew Parth Pawar, who will contest the elections from Maval. The NCP will want to ensure Madha is not counted as collateral damage in that decision.

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