(MENAFN- Live Mint) "Ahed of polls in Maharashtra's Beed Lok Sabha seat, several issues including the Maratha quota protest, reservation for the Dhangar community, and slow progress of the Beed-Ahmednagar railway line, which have cropped up in the past one year, are seen swaying the electorate. Voting in Beed is scheduled on May 13.
Last year, an intense agitation for Maratha quota in jobs and education took place in Maharashtra's central district. The protest turned violent and houses of some political leaders came under attack.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded former state minister Pankaja Munde from Beed against Bajrang Sonawane of the NCP (Sharad Pawar) in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Pankaja Munde is the third member of the Munde family to contest from Beed in the last 15 years. In 2009, her father Gopinath Munde won the seat and in 2014, her younger sister Pritam Munde won by-election after their father's demise, and then retained the seat in the 2019 polls.
“The Maratha quota agitation and nearly 200 offences registered during the period are a big issue in this election,” senior journalist Datta Deshmukh told newswire PTI.
“Another issue is why Pritam Munde was replaced when she had won twice from the seat with good margins. The lack of industry and jobs and the Dhangar community's demand for reservation too are important issues,” Datta said.
\"Pankaja Munde has a strong team down to the booth level as she also has her cousin (state agriculture minister) Dhananjay Munde on her side. But she is facing a disgruntled Maratha community with its pending demand of reservation,\" he added.
The Dhangar community in Maharashtra has been demanding status for Scheduled Tribe. Last year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had declared that his government would research the approaches taken by states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh to accommodate the Dhangar community's demands for reservation senior journalist Balaji Margude said caste equations also matter in the constituency. Citing an example of caste equations, he said,“Even school-going children talk about caste here. Issues of development are rarely discussed. Because of the Maratha quota agitation, the caste factor is in greater focus.”The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government in February passed a bill providing 10% reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.
The Bombay High Court has been hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the state government's decision evens as Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has demanded that the community be given quota in the OBC category by identifying them as Kunbis -- an agrarian community falling in the OBC category -- instead of a separate reservation
has vowed to go
on a fast from June 5, a day after Lok Sabha results are announced, if the Maharashtra government fails to give the community reservation benefits Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra are being held in five phases from April 19 to May 20. The state assembly polls are due later this year.
(With PTI inputs)
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