Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency is one of the tribal dominated areas of Maharashtra state. This constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Congress has won it again, from where party leader Advocate Gowal Kagda Padvi is currently the MP. This parliamentary constituency comes under Nandurbar and Dhule district. Surrounded by Narmada and Tapi rivers, this area is very popular for tribal Pawara dance. Tribal castes like Mavchi Gavit, Kokani, Bhil, Vasave, Pawara etc. live here in large numbers. Toranmal hill station of this area is a major tourist center for tourists. Along with this, City Temple, Prakash, Dattatreya Temple, Hidimba’s forest, Satpura hills and Akrani are other major tourist places here.
Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency is spread across Dhule and Nandurbar districts. This Lok Sabha constituency is formed by combining Aklakkuwa, Shahada, Nandurbar, Navapur, Sakri and Shirpur assembly constituencies. All of which are reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category. Out of these six assembly seats, three are occupied by the Bharatiya Janata Party. At the same time, two seats are with the Congress. Apart from this, an independent candidate also managed to win one seat in the last election. Aklakkuwa assembly constituency, which came into existence in 2009, comes under Nandurbar district. Congress has always been a strong party here since it was declared an assembly constituency. The current MLA from this area is Kagda Chandya Padvi, he was also given the charge of Scheduled Tribe Ministry in Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet.
Shahada assembly seat, which gives a chance of victory only to Congress and BJP, also comes under Nandurbar district. Voters of this area have never shown trust in the two major parties of the state, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party. Bharatiya Janata Party has been winning this area for two consecutive times. Currently, the MLA from here is Rajesh Uday Singh Padvi. Before him, the party leader Uday Singh Kocharu Padvi was the MLA. Nandurbar assembly seat of this Lok Sabha constituency is also reserved for Scheduled Tribe category. BJP leader Vijay Kumar Gavit is currently the MLA from here. The MLA has been winning elections from this area continuously since 1995. Till 2014, he contested elections on NCP ticket, he is currently handling the charge of Tribal Ministry.
Apart from Congress, only Samajwadi Party has been successful in winning the Navapur assembly seat once since the first general election in 1952. Apart from this, Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP have absolutely no influence in this area. Currently, Shirish Kumar Swaroop Singh Naik of Congress is the MLA. Sakri assembly seat, which comes under Dhule district, is also reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category. Currently, independent candidate Manjula Gavit is the MLA on this seat. In the last election, she snatched this seat from the Congress, which had been winning this area for 15 years. Kashiram Vechan Pawara, who contested on BJP ticket from Shirpur assembly seat, known as number 9 in Maharashtra Assembly, ended the 25-year dominance of Congress. MLA Kashiram Pawara has earlier also won the election from this seat on Congress ticket in 2009 and 2014.
