Maharashtra elections 2024: Congress candidate from Brahmapuri Vijay Wadettiwar casts vote

Vijay Wadettiwar. File Pic

Congress leader and candidate from Brahmapuri Assembly seat, Vijay Wadettiwar cast his vote in Maharashtra elections 2024 on Wednesday. Wadettiwar cast his vote at a polling station in Brahmapuri. The Brahmapuri seat falls under the Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency. Vijay Wadettiwar is the sitting MLA from the seat and is in the electoral fray against BJP's Krishnalal Bajirao Sahare. Wadettiwar has represented the seat twice from 2014. BJP is looking to break the hat-trick of the Congress candidate from Brahmapuri seat. Earlier Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge urged young voters to come out and exercise their Franchise, reported news agency ANI.

"Our citizens from Maharashtra and Jharkhand have started casting their votes. All the voters of Maharashtra following the ideology of Shivaji-Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar are requested to vote in maximum numbers. Preserve the pride of Maharashtra, the prosperity of the state and the development that has taken place over decades. Keep opportunistic politics, policies to benefit select capitalists and forces that endanger the future of farmers and youth away from Maharashtra. Politics of money and muscle power has never happened in Maharashtra, before voting on EVM you will have to think how much such falling political standards have hurt the self-respect of Maharashtra. The people of Jharkhand voted for public welfare, protection of water, forest, land and tribal civilization in the first phase, you have to protect your rights in this phase too. The victory of social justice is certain, the defeat of polarization is certain. We appeal to our young friends to definitely vote, we welcome them on this festival of democracy," he said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, voting began at 7 am on Wednesday for the single-phase of Maharashtra elections 2024 and will conclude at 6 pm. Polling is taking place across 288 assembly constituencies. A total of 4,136 candidates are contesting the elections, including 2,086 independents. The BJP is contesting 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81, and the NCP 59. The Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) 86. The BSP is contesting 237 seats, while other smaller parties are also in the fray. The state has approximately 9.7 crore registered voters.

Shifting alliances, ideological conflicts, complex caste dynamics, and emotional appeals have characterised the battle for power in the Maharashtra Assembly. The primary contest is between the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance and the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction), while the opposition MVA comprises the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena secured 56, and the Congress won 44. In 2014, the BJP claimed 122 seats, Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42.

(With inputs from ANI)