Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister and State Congress chief Ashok Chavan has made it a prestige issue to retain power in the Nanded-Waghala City Municipal Corporation (NWCMC), in a high-stake electoral battle against a combative ruling BJP in the State and communally-strong All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
As the campaigning for the October 11 NWCMC poll ended in the Congress leader’s hometown on Monday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP and his predecessor Chavan hit out at each other for having done precious little for their towns of Nagpur and Nanded respectively.
Accusing Chavan of having failed miserably to take care of erstwhile Nizam-ruled town, Fadnavis charged that as many as 50,000 people were still homeless in Nanded and listed the development works he had undertaken in Nagpur. In retaliation, Chavan spoke of the “pathetic condition” of roads in Fadnavis’ home city of Nagpur and charged that “all in the name of development”, the Chief Minister had taken away land from the poor and handed it over to the rich people.
The personal barbs exchanged between them by Fadnavis and Chavan notwithstanding, the Sikh pilgrim town of Nanded witnessed more intense campaigning for the NWCMC polls than the one witnessed in 2012 when the Congress, then the ruling party in the State, had captured power in the local civic body by winning 41 of 80 seats.
Now with BJP in power in the State and Hyderabad-based Owaisi-brothers-led AIMIM (better known as MIM) strengthened its base, Chavan is fighting much tougher battle to retain power in NWCMC.
Barring four terms, Nanded has been under the control of the Congress since 1952. While late S B Chavan represented the constituency twice (1980 and 1984), Ashok Chavan himself was elected to lok Sabha once in a bye-election in 1987, following the resignation of his father. late S B Chavan’s son-in-law and Ashokrao’s brother-in-law Bhaskarao Khatgaonkar has represented the constituency thrice (1998, 1999 and 2009).
Significantly enough, Chavan won the Nanded seat in the 2014 lok Sabha polls in the face of a fierce Modi wave, while his wife Ameeta won the Bhokhar seat in the subsequent Assembly polls.
In the 2012 NWCMC polls, the Congress had won 41 seats followed by Shiv Sena (14), MIM (10), NCP (10), BJP (2) and others (3).
Now in power, the BJP expects to do well in Wednesday’s polls. In election rallies that he addressed on Monday, Fadnavis slammed both Chavan and Shiv Sena which, he called, the “B” team of the Congress.
“Entire Maharashtra is with the BJP today. In the recent elections to 16 municipal corporations across the state, the BJP captured power in 13. The congress is as good as finished. As far as the Sena is concerned, it is the “B” team of the Congress. I am afraid if the Shiv Sena will able to reach a double digit figure in the current polls,” a confidant Fadnavis said.
On its part, the MIM has for the first time teamed up with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the polls. While the MIM is contesting 32 seats, the BSP is in the fray in 22 civic wards.
The MIM, which had made its electoral debut in the erstwhile Nizam-ruled town of Nanded, had sprung a surprise by winning as many as 11 out of 23 seats in the 2012 NWCMC polls
Wednesday’s NWCMC polls are significant in the light of the fact that the State Election Commission (SEC) has for the first time is using the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in one ward on a pilot basis.
The VVPAT machines will be attached to Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and used in ward number 2.
In Wednesday’s polls, there are in all of 578 candidates for 81 seats. The votes polled will be counted on Thursday.