With many heavyweight candidates set to battle it out for three Lok Sabha seats on Friday in Marathwada, where the high-voltage campaigning for the second phase of polling ended on Wednesday evening.
Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani in Marathwada will be held today on April 26 (Friday) from 7 am to 6 pm at 16,589 polling centres.
In Marathwada, Parbhani has highest number of candidates (34), followed by Hingoli (33), and Nanded (23).
Parbhani
In Parbhani, Mahadev Jankar of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, an ally of the ruling 'Mahayuti' (grand alliance) in the state, is contesting against sitting MP Sanjay Jadhav of the Sena (UBT).
In the 2019 elections, Shiv Sena (undivided) nominee Sanjay Jadhav won the Parbhani seat by polling 5,38,941 votes against NCP (undivided) candidate Rajesh Vitekar who got 4,96,742 votes. Shiv Sena (undivided) had fought the Parbhani seat in an alliance with the BJP. In the 2014 elections, the Shiv Sena (undivided) nominee Sanjay Jadhav emerged victorious by polling 5,78,455 votes against NCP nominee Vijay Bhamle who got 4,51,300 votes.
Nanded
Twenty-three candidates are contesting in Nanded this time, including sitting MP Pratap Patil Chikhalikar, supported by BJP and its allies, and Vasant Chavan, backed by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi. Avinash Bhosikar of Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is also in the race.
The Nanded Lok Sabha seat comprises Mukhed, Deglur, Naigaon, Bhokar, Nanded North, and Nanded South segments. Of the 18,51,843 eligible voters, 9,55,084 are male, 8,96,617 are female, and 142 are transgender persons. Additionally, there are 15,667 voters with disabilities.
Nanded has 2,062 polling booths, with 16 managed entirely by women.
Hingoli
In Hingoli, sitting MP Hemant Patil of the Shiv Sena has been dropped and the party has fielded Baburao Kohalikar, a low-profile activist with a farming background. He will lock horns with the Maha Vikas Aghadi's Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Nagesh B Patil-Aashtikar, a former MLA, Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate, Dr. BD Chavhan, and other smaller parties, plus Independents.
Sprawled across three districts (Yavatmal, Hindoli and Nanded), Hingoli Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Assembly segments, of which three are currently held by the BJP, and one each is with the ruling ally Shiv Sena, the Congress and the NCP. They are the BJP's Umarkhed-SC (MLA Namdev J Sasane), Kinwat (MLA Bhimrao Keram), Hingoli (MLA Tanaji S Mutkule); Kalamnuri (Shiv Sena MLA Santosh L Bangar), Basmath (NCP, MLA Chandrakant R Nawghare) and Hadgaon (Congress, MLA Madharvao N Pawar). With a predominantly rural population, this constituency with 11.80 lakh (Census 2011) people is home to one of the 12 and among Maharashtra's five Jyotirlingas, the famed Aundha Nagnath Shiv Temple.
