Nanded battle: Can Ashok Chavan buck Lok Sabha election trends in this Maratha stronghold? Here's what we know

Maratha stronghold Nanded in the Marathwada region is witnessing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vs Congress battle in this assembly election. In this contest, the BJP is hedging its bets on Maratha politics veteran Ashok Chavan, who left the Congress and joined BJP months ahead of Lok Sabha polls.  

The Mahayuti faced massive drubbing in Nanded during the Lok Sabha polls 2024. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress' Vasantrao Balwantrao Chavan won the seat by a margin of over 59,000 votes. After the Lok Sabha setback, the responsibility of pacifying the dissatisfied groups including Marathas and farmers fell on Chavan's shoulders. 

As per Chavan, the ruling alliance in Maharashtra fared poorly in Nanded due to factors such as the choice of candidate and the stance taken by party workers. He, however, said in a recent interview that this is bound to reverse in the assembly elections due to populist schemes like Ladki Bahin which directly benefit the people. 

Despite Mahayuti ally Ajit Pawar's disagreement over 'Batenge toh Katenge', Chavan said that such slogans are meant to garner applause during electoral campaigning. He also said that he trusts the intelligence of the Indian voters and that it will not be swayed by the slogans. 

Despite Chavan's pragmatic optimism over bucking the voting trends seen in Lok Sabha election, the BJP is facing some serious challenges in the district. In the Bhokar assembly seat, from where Ashok Chavan's daughter Sreejaya Chavan is contesting, there is widespread dissatisfaction among Marathas over the quota stir. 

Sreejaya is also likely to have it tough because of the constituency's anti-BJP history. Dismissing allegations of dynastic politics, Chavan has repeatedly emphasised that his daughter has entered politics on her own merit. 

From Deglur, Chavan's protege Jitesh Antapurkar is contesting on a BJP ticket against Congress' Nivratirao Kondiba Kamble. In August this year, Antapurkar joined the BJP after he was expelled from the Congress over allegations of cross-voting during the legislative council elections. 

Besides these seats, it is a direct BJP vs Congress contest on 2 other seats -- Mukhed and Naigaon. In Mukhed, BJP's Tushar Rathod is facing off against Congress' Hanmantrao Betmogarekar. In Naigaon, Congress' Minal Niranjan Patil is contesting against BJP's Antapurkar. 

For the last 5 decades, Nanded has been to the Chavan family what Baramati has to the Pawar family. Ashok Chavan's father and former Maharashtra CM Shankarrao Chavan hailed from Nanded. 

In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena (undivided) alliance won 5 of the 9 assembly seats in the district. Congress, on the other hand, could manage to win only 4 seats in the Nanded district. 

Nanded is bound by Vidarbha's Yavatmal district on the north, Latur on the south-west, Parbhani and Hingoli on the west. Around 50% voters in the district are Marathas whereas roughly 27% make up the rest of the electorate -- Muslims, OBCs, Sikhs, SC, and ST communities.