6 out of 9: Congress sweeps Maharashtra reserved seats

The Congress has made major gains in Maharashtra’s reserved seats with a spirited campaign — centered around the political rhetoric that Narendra Modi 3.0 with a 400-plus mandate could change the Constitution and undermine the reservation regime.

The state has nine reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, of which Nandurbar, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Palghar and Dindori are reserved for STs, while Amaravati, Ramtek, Latur, Solapur and Shirdi are reserved for SCs.

Of the nine seats, Congress won six — Solapur, Latur, Ramtek, Amaravati, Nandurbar and Gadchiroli-Chimur, while its allies Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP won one seat each — Shirdi and Dindori respectively. The BJP managed to win only one seat of Palghar.

In 2019, the BJP won seven of the seats, including Amaravati, as independent candidate extended support to the BJP after results) and its then ally partner united Shiv Sena had won the rest two.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Maharashtra through Nandurbar where he slammed the ruling BJP for snatching the rights of the tribals and stressed on the need to protect forests and rights of tribals. During the campaign, the Opposition raised the issue of BJP trying to change the Constitution with its mandate of over 400 seats.

“Earlier, in seats reserved for SCs, the issue of conflict between Buddhist Dalits and Hindu Dalits cut the chances of the Congress, which usually fielded candidates from the community. However, this time the ticket distribution was as per the local needs. In addition, the consolidation of Kunbis and Marathas behind Opposition candidates ensured clear win on reserved seats,” said a senior Congress leader who was part of the ticket distribution process.

Lok Sabha