Elections for the eight Maharashtra seats in Phase-2 will take place on Friday

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur: On Wednesday, the last day of phase 2 election campaigning for eight Maharashtra seats, major opponents launched pointed jabs at one another while coordinating speeches with their fundamental beliefs before the dust settled.

Phase 1 of the campaign saw the Congress take a strong stance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the BJP’s rhetoric had significant saffron undertones. This was a departure from phase 1, when the focus was on development and manifestos.

In the five western Vidarbha seats of Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, and Yavatmal-Washim, as well as the three drought-prone Marathwada constituencies of Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani, almost 1.5 crore voters will decide the destiny of 204 candidates on Friday.

High-profile candidates from both parties rallied the public in the last hours of the campaign in Amravati district. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress spoke to audiences in Parathwada, while Amit Shah of the BJP appeared in Amravati city. Gandhi criticized Modi’s policies as being more “corporate friendly” and detrimental to the average person, while Shah encouraged people to support “Ram Rajya” in the next election.

Because the stakes were so high, phase two campaigning was intense. This polling cycle will be significant not just for a select few’s political careers but also for the historical legacy of the Sena factions.

In Nanded, former chief minister of the Congress Ashok Chavan, who defected to the BJP, made every effort to secure victory for his erstwhile opponent, Prataprao Chikhalikar, who is up for reelection.

A triangle has been created by Hingoli between B. D. Chavan of the VBA, Sena nominee Baburao Kadam Kohalikar, and Sena (UBT) candidate Nagesh Patil Ashtikar. Sena was forced to withdraw its original choice, incumbent MP Hemant Patil, when CM Eknath Shinde nominated Kohalikar in response to protests from the local BJP unit.

In Parbhani, another triangle battle is imminent. The Rashtriya Samaj Paksha president of Mahayuti, Mahadev Jankar, and VBA nominee Panjabrao Dakh, a well-known figure in the agricultural community, will oppose Sena (UBT) candidate and sitting MP Sanjay alias Bandu Jadhav, who is running for reelection.

Given the internal strife in Mahayuti, BJP candidates Navneet Rana (Amravati) and Anup Dhotre (Akola) are battling for political survival since a loss may entail oblivion. Even though he is with it, Ranabaiter Bacchu Kadu risked all in Amravati to challenge Mahayuti’s strength.

Dhotre, a four-time MP, is struggling to preserve his father Sanjay Dhotre’s legacy in Akola. The Maratha community is familiar with Congressman Dr. Abhay Patil, who kept his polling campaign development-focused. In order to retain the core vote base and sway undecided voters, VBA chairman and candidate Prakash Ambedkar kept the guns aimed at the BJP and Congress throughout his campaign.

It’s a fight to the death for both Sena groups in Yavatmal-Washim and Buldhana as they vie for control of their greatest strongholds in Vidarbha. Voter appeals based on emotions were crucial to the election campaign, since both Sena MPs from these seats joined the Shindeled party. Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of the Sena (UBT), and Shinde often used the term “traitor” to incite anger among the electorate. With a loss there, possibly signaling the end of their control over Vidarbha, both groups went all out.

Ramdas Tadas, the BJP candidate for Wardha, disparaged Pooja, his independent daughter-in-law. Three-time Congress MLA Amar Kale of MVA switched to the NCP when the party won the seat.