Beed Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to field Pankaja Munde, a former state minister and the daughter of senior party leader Gopinath Munde, from Beed in Maharashtra is a calculated move to lure Other Backward Class (OBC) voters, who constitute 52 per cent of the state's population.
Pankaja, who has a following among the Vanjari community, is being looked at as an emerging OBC leader.
Who is Pankaja Munde?
Pankaja Munde, who is the daughter of veteran party leader and former Union minister Gopinath Munde is contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time from the Beed constituency which is represented by her real sister Pritam Munde since 2014 and by her father till his early death in June 2014.
The BJP clearly sees Pankaja’s potential to mobilise support from the OBC community, which will be crucial not just in Beed, but also in seven other Lok Sabha seats in the Marathwada region, where pro-Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil held his protests demanding Maratha reservation, especially from the OBC quota.
Pankaja had lost the 2019 Assembly elections from Parli in her home district Beed against cousin and united NCP member Dhananjay Munde. However, the political rivalry has now turned into a cordial relationship after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government. Dhananjay Munde is now the Agriculture Minister in the MahaYuti government.
Pankaja Munde on Maratha, OBC quota controversy
On the Maratha and OBC quota controversy, Pankaja was consistent with her stand that the government should provide reservations to the Maratha community, which will stand legal scrutiny. She had strongly asserted that the bitterness between the Marathas and OBC communities should end.
After her name went missing from the party's list of Rajya Sabha candidates from Maharashtra, Pankaja had said that she was waiting for a position, but no constituency was left for her after the formation of the triple-engine government in Maharashtra. On whether she would like to go to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, she replied that it was too late to choose.
"If my supporters in Beed and the rest of Maharashtra see me in that position, it will be a big thing," she had said.
NCP-Sharad Pawar candidate Bajrang Sonwane
The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) named Bajrang Sonwane as its candidate from the Beed Lok Sabha constituency in central Maharashtra
When Beed will vote?
Beed will vote in the fourth phase on May 13. Besides the NCP (SP) and the Congress, the MVA also consists of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), will vote in five phases starting from April 19.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20. the counting of votes will be done on June 4 (Tuesday).
