For the first time in the election history of the Ramtek assembly constituency, the “Panja” (Hand) election symbol of the Indian National Congress is absent from the elections. Similarly, the “Lotus” symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared in the Ramtek constituency only in 1995, 2014, and 2019. This time, like in all the other years, the “Lotus” symbol will not be seen in this constituency. It is noteworthy that in the forthcoming Assembly elections scheduled for November 20, Ramtek constituency has been allocated to the Shiv Sena (UBT) in the seat-sharing formula of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), while the Shiv Sena (Shinde) will contest it under the Mahayuti alliance. Looking back at the history of the Ramtek Assembly elections from 1972 to 2019, there has not been a single election in the last 52 years in which Congress did not field a candidate.

 

Historically, in the elections of 1972 and earlier, the Congress candidate’s symbol was “cow and calf.” In 1978, the Congress symbol changed to the “Panja”. Several prominent leaders have contested from Ramtek over the years: Gunderao Mahajan in 1978; Madhukarrao Kimmatkar in 1980, 1985, and 1990; Anandrao Deshmukh in 1995 and 1999; Chandrapal Chouksey in 2004; Subodh Mohite in 2009 and 2014; and Uday Singh (Gajju Yadav) in 2019—all representing Congress under the “Panja” symbol. In the 2024 elections, for the first time in 52 years, Congress will not have a candidate, and its iconic “Panja” symbol will be missing from the ballot. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first contested the Ramtek assembly election in 1995, with its candidate Pandurang Hazare, using the “Lotus” symbol. In 1999, following the formation of a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, Shiv Sena took control of this seat and nominated Ashish Jaiswal as its candidate.

 

This trend continued in the 2004 and 2009 elections, with Ashish Jaiswal as the candidate. However, in 2014, when the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance fractured, BJP once again fielded its own candidate, D Mallikarjun Reddy, who went on to win and marked the “Lotus” symbol’s first electoral victory in the constituency. In 2019, after the seat came under the BJP quota once again, D Mallikarjun Reddy contested as the BJP candidate. However, Ashish Jaiswal, who was previously with Shiv Sena, rebelled against the Mahayuti alliance and contested as an independent candidate and won the election. For the BJP supporters in Ramtek, the “Lotus” symbol appeared in 1995, 2014, and 2019, but it is notably absent in 2024. In 1990, Prakash Jadhav contested from the Ramtek Assembly constituency using the Shiv Sena’s “bow and arrow” symbol. This marked the first time the “bow and arrow” symbol appeared in the constituency.