All the five Assembly constituencies in the district will see tough battle between Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the ensuing elections. Along with the seating MLAs in the respective constituency, with an exception of Gowardhan Sharma who passed away a few months ago, a number of leaders from all parties are eager to test their mettle. Four out of five seats are held by Bharatiya Janata Party in Akola district. Considering the seat-sharing formula in Mahayuti, BJP is going to contest from four places. Balapur Assembly constituency which comprises of Balapur and Patur talukas is at present held by Nitin Bhikanrao Tale (Deshmukh), formerly Shiv Sena leader he now belongs to Shiv Sena (UBT) group.

 

 

 

Deshmukh is sure to get ticket for his loyalty to Uddhav Thackeray. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has already announced its contestant from here. Former Congress MLC Natikoddin Khatib who left Congress recently, accepting VBA’s offer to contest as its contestant. Khatib’s candidature have signalled at new equations in Balapur. BJP had its hold here for quite long. Former MLAs from here Narayan Gawhankar, Baliram Siraskar are also in the race. Shiv Sena (Shinde) and Rashtrawadi Congress (Ajit Pawar) from Mahayuti have no claim here. Rashtrwadi leaders Sandip Patil and Krishna Andhare from Maha Vikas Aghadi aspire to get ticket. In 2019 elections Nitin Tale (Shiv Sena), Dr Dhairyawardhan Pundkar (VBA) and Dr Rahman Khan (AIMIM) were top three contestants. In Akot Assembly constituency, a rush to get ticket is seen among all parties. Prakash Bharsakle is sittting MLA from BJP. He is senior BJP leader and hence may be given another opportunity, however he is outsider in Akot, hence a group in the party opposes him.

 

Former Minister of State for Home and MLC Dr Ranjit Patil has exprssed his willingness to contest from Akot, Dr Patil is close to Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis. former MLC Gopikisan Bajoriya from Shivsena (Shinde),is another apirant from Mahayuti. Sitting MLC Amol Mitkari of Rashtrawadi and Mahesh Gangane, son of former minister Sudhakarrao Gangane from Congress are also in the race. Besides these, Adv Santosh Rahate of VBA who had given tough fight to Bharsakle in 2019, Anil Gawande of Prhar Janshakti, Raju Boche of Rashtrawadi (SP), Sanjay Gawande of Shivsena (UBT) are in the queue. Akola East Assembly constituency is BJP’s citadel. Randhir Savarkar, sitting BJP MLA hopes to win for the third consecutive term. He is holding the post of party’s State Secretary at present. He had played major role in the victory of Anup Dhotre in Lok Sabha elections. There is opposition to his name from Mahayuti for Akola-East. MVA has many aspirants for this constituency. Prominent among them are Dr Subhashchandra Korpe, (Congress), Gopal Datkar and former MLA Haridas Bhade, Shiv Sena (UBT). Others include Puja Kale (Congress), Prashant Patil Wankhade (Congress). Balmukund Bhirad, Prof Dr Santosh Hushe are willing candidates from VBA. From Akola West Assembly constituency there was no alternative to Late Gowardhan Sharma for six terms in succession. In his absence BJP faces a big challenge to choose his right successor. If it fails to do so, the party may lose this seat.

 

In 2019 election Sajid Khan Pathan had made it difficult for Sharma to win. Shamra could win with a meagre margin of 2,593 votes over Pathan. Now his son Krishna Sharma, party's district chief Vijay Agrawal, former civic chief Harish Alimchandani, former Mayor Ashwini Hatwalne, Adv Motisingh Mohta are probables to be choosen from. For Maha Vikas Aghadi, Congress has prepared a long list. Besides Sajid Khan Pathan, Dr Zishan Husain, son of former minister Azhar Husain, Ramakant Khetan, Pradip Vakhariya and Vivek Paraskar, former Mayor Madan Bhargad and D Abhay Patil are making all efforts to get the candidature. Rajesh Mishra of Shiv Sena (UBT), Vijay Deshmukh of Rashtrawadi Congress (SP) are others to choose from. Candidate-wise votes in the 2019 elections. Murtizapur's seat is presently held by BJP's Harish Pimple. However Pimple is facing quite strong opposition fom the party workers. People in the constituency are disappointed by him hence there is a wave to change party's contestant from Murtizapur. Former ZP President Shrawan Ingle and Sagar Sawle are two ooptions before the party. Samrat Dongardiwe from Rashtrawadi Congress, Gajanan Bhatkar (Sharad Pawar), and Dr Sugat Waghmare, Pratibha Awahar and Pushpa Ingle (VBA), Gautam Gawai from Congress are other aspirants.