NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled from April 19 in seven phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kickstart the BJP’s election campaign in Maharashtra by addressing a public rally in Chandrapur on Monday evening.
Ahead of his rally, PM Modi, in a post on X, said that the people of Maharashtra have taken a solemn pledge for the grand victory of BJP-NDA candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. “The people of Maharashtra have taken a solemn pledge for the grand victory of BJP-NDA candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. Today, in Chandrapur, I will have an opportunity to seek the blessings of the people here at 5 pm”, he said in a post in Marathi.
महाराष्ट्रातील जनमानसाने लोकसभा निवडणुकीत भाजपा – एनडीएच्या उमेदवारांना विजयी करण्याचा महाप्रण केला आहे. चंद्रपुरात आज संध्याकाळी ५ वाजता आपल्या प्रियजनांचे आशीर्वाद घेण्याची संधी मिळणार आहे.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 8, 2024
The Mahayuti-BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, are contesting the polls together as pre-poll alliance partners. Till now, the BJP has announced 24 candidates, Shinde eight and Ajit Pawar three.
In Chandrapur’s seat, state BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is pitted against Congress candidate Pratibha Dhanorkar. In the 2019 polls, Chandrapur was the lone seat won by Congress candidate Suresh Dhanorkar. However, in May 2023, Suresh Dhanorkar passed away at age 47. The Congress has fielded his wife as the party candidate for the seat this time.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20. Out of the five seats going to polls in the first phase, the BJP is contesting in four — Nagpur, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli-Chimur, while the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is contesting from Ramtek.
The state, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four. Following the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, the Eknath Shinde faction aligned with the BJP. (ANI)