Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections 2024: Key constituencies and candidates in Phase 4

Pankaja, who represented the family’s pocket borough Parli assembly seat since 2009, lost to her cousin Dhananjay Munde in 2019.

In the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election on May 13, Maharashtra will see voting for 11 seats.

Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi and Beed will go to polls. The state, which has 48 seats, has already polled for 13 seats in Phase 1 and Phase 2. The state will see a close contest between the two major state coalitions – the Mahayuti (Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress Party) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Indian National Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).

Here are the key seats to watch out for.

Aurangabad: Sitting MP Imtiyaz Jaleel, a journalist-turned-politician and the Maharashtra unit president of Asaduddiun Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will lock horns with MP of undivided Shiv Sena Chandrakant Khaire and Shiv Sena’s Sandipanrao Bhumre who is now the Employment Guarantee Minster in the Eknath Shinde-led state government. Aurangabad is considered a stronghold of the Shiv-Sena, but AIMIM won this constituency back in 2019.

Jalna: Danve Raosaheb Dadarao is the current MP of Jalna. The BJP leader won from here in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This time he will lock horns with Congress leader Kalyan Kale.

Nandurbar: This seat is reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Tribes and comprises part of Dhule district and the entire Nandurbar district. It had traditionally been a Congress citadel till Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed his office in 2014. BJP has fielded sitting MP Dr Heena Gavit for the third straight term. She will be up against Congress leader Gowaal K Padavi.

Beed: Pankaja Munde, daughter of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, is the party candidate from this seat. Her father won the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections from here. Munde will face Bajrang Sonwane of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has fielded Ashok Hinge. Beed district had witnessed several incidents of violence during Maratha quota agitation in 2023.

Jalgaon: This constituency will witness the fight between Smita Wagh representing the BJP and Karan Pawar from the Shiv Sena faction (UBT). In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil of BJP wonby beating Gulabrao Baburao Deokar of NCP by a margin of over 4,00,000 votes.

Ahmednagar: A key Lok Sabha constituency in north Maharashtra, this seat is expected to witness a neck-and-neck fight between BJP’s Sujay Vikhe-Patil, a fourth-generation politician from the Vikhe-Patil family and NCP (SP)’s Nilesh Lanke. There are six Assembly segments under Ahmednagar district, the largest in Maharashtra. Both BJP and NCP (SP) have a sizable following here.

The counting of votes will be held on June 4.