Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 |Caste and reservation to be deciding factors in Marathwada during polls

Mumbai: With elections around the corner, Marathwada is witnessing demand for reservation by the Maratha community and resistance by the Other Backward Classes.

For over a year, Ambad in Jalna district has been the hub of quota politics.

While Maratha reservation campaigner and Shivba Sanghatana founder Manoj Jarange-Patil is leading the protests for over 14 months now from the Antarwali Sarathi village, the Lok Sabha polls OBC Sangharsh Sena founder Laxman Hake is leading the resistance from Wadigodri village.

Antarwali Sarathi and Wadigodri villages are barely four to five kms away from each other.

Marathwada, the land of saints has championed several movements and now demands reservation for the Maratha community.

The region has supported four Congress Chief Ministers - Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, Shankarrao Chavan and his son Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Marathwada, which has eight districts, has eight Lok Sabha seats and 46 Vidhan Sabha seats.

Due to the split in Shiv Sena and NCP, and the rise of caste politics the region saw a stark difference in the results of 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In 2019, the undivided Shiv Sena won four seats and the BJP three while Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won one seat.

In 2024, however, BJP could not win a single seat but Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won one seat. On the other hand, opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi won seven seats - Congress - 3 seats, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) - three seats and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) one seat.

While Latur is a SC reserved seat, the rest of the seven seats were won by Marathas.

BJP’s OBC face Pankaja Munde, who hails from the Vanjari community, unexpectedly lost the Beed seat to NCP (SP), which chose a Maratha candidate.

RSP founder and Dhangar leader Mahadev Jankar, who was given the Parbhani seat by Ajit Pawar-led NCP, lost to Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Jadhav.

Jarange-Patil decision to field candidates and defeat those who have not supported the Maratha reservation agitation comes as a warning bell to the ruling Maha Yuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi.

As Ashok Chavan has moved to BJP, Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Amit Deshmukh has emerged as the Congress face in the region.

Marathawada

Districts: 8

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad), Dharashiv (earlier Osmanabad), Beed, Jalna, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Latur