Dindori is a major reserved (ST) Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra state. Where the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was in power for the last 15 years, has been ousted from power by Bhaskar Muralidhar Bhagare of Sharad Pawar’s faction of NCP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. This constituency was created in 2008 on the basis of the recommendation of the Delimitation Commission formed in 2002. Where voting was held for the first time in the 2009 general elections. The original name of Dindori was Ramgarh till 1951, but later this area came to be known as Dindori instead of Ramgarh. The dynasties of Chedi, Maurya, Shunga and Kanva and Chalukya have ruled this area for a long time. Therefore, Dindori has its own historical importance. Kalchuri Kali Temple, Laxman Madav and Kukra Math are religiously famous tourist places here. Apart from this, this area is also famous for grape cultivation.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) won this seat by taking a lead in four out of six seats. This Lok Sabha constituency has been formed by combining Nandgaon, Kalwan, Chandwad, Yeola, Niphad and Dindori assembly constituencies. All these seats come under Nashik district. All parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party have won the Nandgaon assembly seat, which came into existence with the formation of Maharashtra state in 1962. Currently, this seat is held by Subhash Kande of Shiv Sena, a member of Eknath Shinde’s faction. He won this seat by defeating Pankaj Bhujbal of the CPI. Bhujbal has represented this seat in the state assembly for 10 years.
Kalwan seat reserved for scheduled tribe category of Dindori Lok Sabha falls completely under Nashik district. Kalwan assembly constituency is also known in the whole of Maharashtra because of Arjun Tulsiram Pawar. He won from 1990 to 2009 first on BJP ticket and then on NCP ticket. Currently, Nitin Arjun Pawar of Ajit Pawar’s faction of NCP is the MLA from here.
Whereas, in the 2014 elections, CPM-I’s Jiva Pandu Gavit won. Chandwad assembly seat, which gave a chance of victory to both BJP and NCP except Congress and Shiv Sena, comes completely under Nashik district. Basically, this seat is known as the stronghold of Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP had won this seat three times in a row from 1985 to 1999. In the next two elections, NCP and then independent candidate won and weakened the party’s hold on this seat. But in 2014, BJP made a comeback once again and Rahul Daulatrao Ahir was successful in winning the election from here. He has won the election twice in a row.
The Yeola assembly seat, known as number 119 in the Maharashtra assembly, has long been occupied by NCP’s strong leader Chhagan Bhujbal. He has been an MLA from here continuously since 2004. Before him, this seat was held by Shiv Sena’s Kalyanrao Jayantrao Patil. Bhujbal had supported Ajit Pawar when the Nationalist Congress Party split into two parts shortly before the Lok Sabha elections. He is currently a part of the state government’s cabinet. He has been given the responsibility of the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry.
Congress has ruled the Niphad assembly constituency under Dindori Lok Sabha from 1962 to 1995. However, in 1995, this seat was split from Congress and went to Shiv Sena. After which Congress has never been able to win this seat. Currently, Dilip Bankar of Ajit Pawar’s faction of NCP is the MLA from this seat. He won the 2019 election by defeating two-time Shiv Sena MLA Anil Kadam. Another Dindori assembly seat of this Lok Sabha constituency is also reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category. Currently, Jirwal Narhari Sitaram of NCP (Ajit Pawar) is the MLA from here. MLA Jirwal has also represented the people here in the assembly from 2004 to 2009 and 2014 to 2019. He is currently holding the post of Deputy Speaker in the state assembly.
This time in the assembly elections, farmers and their issues can be an important issue in view of the Dindori seat. At the same time, the number of tribal members in this constituency is also quite good. Along with some infrastructure issues, the issue of health is also going to be very important for the elections here. But the main issue of all can be onions. It has also been seen that farmers have often become aggressive regarding the government’s stance on onions. The impact of onion export ban and onion prices can be seen in the elections.
