AGAINST State Congress President, four-time MLA and ex-MP Nana Patole, the Mahayuti has sent BJP’s Avinash Brahmankar to the poll battle in Sakoli Assembly constituency. Brahmankar is a sitting Zilla Parishad Member. Another prominent candidate in the fray is noted educationist Somdutt Karanjekar. He is a BJP rebel. There are 3,28,476 registered voters in Sakoli constituency that comprises three tehsils namely Sakoli, Lakhandur and Lakhni. There is majority of Kunbi community voters followed by scheduled caste, teli and Kohali communities. Both Patole and Brahmankar are from Kunbi community whereas Karanjekar is from Teli community. In all 13 candidates are fighting it out in Sakoli. BSP has fielded Roshal Phule and Avinash Nanhe is the face of V a n c h i t Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). According to political pandits, while Patole is a Congress heavyweight and is being projected as the probable next Chief Minister of the State, he also does not have anything remarkable for to project as his achievements.

 

On the other hand, Bramhankar’s may not bne a big name politically but he enjoys a better connect at grassroot level. He is also relying on the impact of Ladki Bahin Yojana. Notably, there are 1,64,374 women voters and 1,64,102 male voters in this constituency. In the election of 2019, BJP had fielded a strong candidate in the form of Dr Parinay Fuke against Patole, but Fuke had los by a close margin of 6,240 votes. In 2009, Nana Patole had won on BJP ticket with record margin of 62,915 votes. He had defeated his arch political rival Sewak Waghaye of the Congress. In 2014, all major political parties had gone in the election alone and as Patole had got elected to the Lok Sabha, BJP has fielded Rajesh (Bala) Kashiwar, who had won by a comfortable margin of 25,489 votes. This time, it will also be interesting to see as to how many votes are garnered by BJP rebel Karanjekar.