Aurangabad is an important Lok Sabha constituency of the state of Maharashtra. Currently, Sandipanrao Bhumre of Eknath Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena is the MP from here. Last time, Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM was successful in winning the election from here. From 1999 to 2019, Chandrakant Khaire of Shiv Sena has represented this Lok Sabha seat. The caves of Ajanta and Ellora, known for their unique art in the world, are also located here. These world famous caves were built around 200 BC. Mughal ruler Aurangzeb spent a large part of his life in this region and also died on the land of Aurangabad. The tomb of Aurangzeb’s wife Rabia Durani is also in this area. Which was built with the inspiration of the Taj Mahal, due to which this tomb is also called the Taj Mahal of the West. Aurangabad is also a major educational center and industrial city of Maharashtra. Recently, the state Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had changed the name of Aurangabad district to Sambhaji Nagar.
Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency is made up of Kannad, Aurangabad Central, Aurangabad West, Gangapur and Vaijapur assembly constituencies. The people of Kannad assembly constituency have given a chance to win to all the parties except Bharatiya Janata Party. Currently, Uday Singh Rajput is the MLA from here, who is an MLA from Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of Shiv Sena. Before him, Harshvardhan Jadhav of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was elected MLA. Congress has also represented this seat for a long time. The current MLA Uday Singh Rajput has also worked as a social worker for a long time before joining politics.
Aurangabad Central seat, which came into existence in 2009, is located in Aurangabad district. Elections have been held in this assembly constituency only three times so far, in which first Pradeep Jaiswal, then Imtiaz Jaleel Syed of AIMIM and last time again Pradeep Jaiswal of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) were successful in winning the election. MLA Pradeep Jaiswal, who reached the assembly as an independent in 2009, has also been the mayor of Aurangabad Municipality. The only reserved seat of this Lok Sabha constituency is Aurangabad West, which is reserved for the Scheduled Caste category. Voters have expressed trust only in Congress and Shiv Sena on this seat, which came into existence in 1962. Currently, Sanjay Shirsat of Shiv Sena is the MLA from here for three consecutive times. Before him, Rajendra Darda of Congress has been an MLA from Aurangabad West.
At the same time, Aurangabad East Assembly constituency also comes under Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency. Haribhau Bagde of Bharatiya Janata Party has been an MLA from here for almost 20 years. The voters of the area had continuously expressed trust in him from 1985 to 1999. After him, Kalyan Kale and Rajendra Darda of Congress have also been elected MLAs. Currently, Atul Sev of BJP is representing this area in the Legislative Assembly. Sev has also played an important role in different ministries from 2019 to 2022.
Gangapur Assembly seat is an important seat of this region. At present Prashant Bansilal Bamb of Bharatiya Janata Party is the MLA from here. Bamb has been representing the people of this region in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as an MLA since 2009. In 2009, he won as an independent candidate, after which he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress was last able to win this seat in 1885. On the other hand, before Bamb, Shiv Sena’s Annasaheb Patil was the MLA from here. Another seat of this Lok Sabha constituency is Vaijapur, which is considered a stronghold of Shiv Sena. The party has won here from 1999 to 2009 and also during the last assembly. Ramesh Boranare is the current MLA from here. In the 2014 elections, Bhausaheb Patil of Nationalist Congress Party snatched this seat from Shiv Sena. Here Shiv Sena will have to work hard to save its house.
In Mahavikas Aghadi and Mahayuti, this seat was given to both factions of Shiv Sena. In such a situation, there was a fight between Bhumare and Khaire. On the other hand, the reputation of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray was also at stake. The question was whether AIMIM would not take advantage of the fight between the two camps of Shiv Sena. In such a situation, a triangular contest was expected on this seat. Talking about the political scenario of this seat, initially it was a stronghold of Congress, but by 1999, Shiv Sena had established its foothold here. Congress had won this seat for the last time in 1998. BJP has never won here. Even as a Lok Sabha seat, the name of the seat is Aurangabad, but the Maharashtra government has changed the name of this district to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. In such a situation, the name of the Lok Sabha seat can also change in the coming days.
Aurangabad is also the largest city in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The Lok Sabha constituency has 30,52,724 voters, including 16,00,169 men, 14,52,415 women, and 140 third gender voters. Aurangabad was initially a Congress stronghold and it won many elections here after independence. However, in the late 1980s and 90s, Shiv Sena entered here and then became the major party here.
