Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar: The Aurangabad Central Assembly Constituency recorded the lowest voting percentage out of three Constituencies in the city on Wednesday.
There are 3.68 voters in this Constituency. The fate of 24 candidates was sealed yesterday. More than 2.18 lakh voters turned out to exercise their franchise. It recorded 59.35 pc voting. The city’s other two Constituencies are East and West. The low turnout of voters in Hindu-dominated areas is a matter of concern for sitting MLA Pradeep Jaiswal.
Meanwhile, increased voting in Muslim-dominated areas has brightened the hopes of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) for the time being.
In the Central Constituency, there was a quadrangle fight among Shiv Sena's sitting MLA Pradeep Jaiswal, Uddhav Sena's Balasaheb Thorat, AIMIM's Nasser Siddiqui and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Javed Qureshi. Out of total voters, the figures show that 1.50 lakh voters turned their back on Wednesday.
This is mainly due to the apathy among voters in Hindu-majority areas and the increased voting percentage in Muslim-majority areas, which is currently creating an atmosphere of joy in the camp of MIM's Naser Siddiqui.
It was expected that this election would be a direct fight between Shiv Sena's Pradeep Jaiswal and Uddhav Sena's Balasaheb Thorat. In the backdrop of the current debate over the Maratha reservation, Balasaheb Thorat was seen as the only candidate who could attract Maratha voters.
Now, Pradeep Jaiswal's victory or defeat will depend on how many Maratha votes he attracts. Whereas, in the last 2019 elections, Jaiswal, the candidate of both Shiv Sena and BJP alliance, was given a good fight by Naser Siddiqui. Siddiqui's party received as many as 80,000 votes.
How successful will be Siddiqui in retaining these votes for the AIMIM, only time will tell. On the other hand, the number of votes that the candidate of the VBA’s Javed Qureshi, gets from Muslims and the traditional votes group of VBA, will determine Siddiqui's victory.
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Apathy among Ladki Bahins
It was expected that the point of Ladki Bahin Yojana, which was popular during this election, would be helpful to attract votes. But, the statistics have come to light that 76, 676 women have turned their backs on voting in the Constituency.
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There was good voting at all the booths. All the communities have put their trust in Uddhav Sena. Therefore, the torch will light in tomorrow's results.
(Balasaheb Thorat, Uddhav Sena candidate).