Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: DyCM Devendra Fadnavis Files Nomination Papers From Nagpur South West Constituency Amid Show Of Strength

Deputy chief minister and BJP face in state  Devendra Fadnavis filed his nomination papers here on Friday. A massive show of strength in the form of a  nomination rally organised on the occasion was led by Union minister for Transport and National highways Nitin Gadkari. Thousands of supporters and party workers were present at  the public rally at Samvidhan Chowk where Fadnavis as well as Gadkari expressed confidence of a big win for the party in Nov -20 state Assembly elections.

State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule , who is contesting from Kamptee seat in Nagpur rural,  BJP's Nagpur East candidate Krishna Khopde and Nagpur South candidate Mohan Mate  also filed their nomination papers . Fadnavis is a fifth-term MLA who won Assembly polls from Nagpur West twice (1999, 2004) and Nagpur South West thrice (2009, 2014, 2019). He will be contesting for the sixth consecutive term.

Before setting out to file the election papers,  Fadnavis, Bawankule and the other candidates  went to Gadkari’s residence to seek his blessings.  "This is my sixth election. But, just like I received people's blessings in the last five elections, I  hope to get blessings this time too and get  elected with a good margin," he said after applying “ tilak” on his forehead and performing aarti ahead of his filing nomination.

Fadnavis also expressed confidence in the “Mahayuti” alliance's victory in the ensuing elections and said the people of the state are aware of the developmental work done by them in the state. “We believe in development-oriented politics, keeping people’s welfare at the centre. Our agenda is purely pro-people. People in the state have seen our work and the speed with which we have done various developmental works. We will  seek  votes  for our good performance ," he said.

This time, Fadnavis will have to battle it out with Congress’s Praful Gudadhe at the Nagpur South West constituency. After the setback in the recently held Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP-led Mahayuti won only 17 constituencies against the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s 30 seats in Maharashtra, every constituency in the Vidarbha region is tipped to witness an intense fight between the ruling and the Opposition alliances in the upcoming elections.

In the recent parliamentary polls, the Nagpur South West seat  was among the four Assembly segments under the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency where the BJP’s votes declined. The number of votes polled by the BJP in Nagpur South West was 1,13,501 compared to 1,20,185 in 2019. While the Congress candidate’s votes increased to 79,966 from the previous 65,069. This was largely because of strong anti-BJP sentiment prevailing among the Dalit and Muslim communities that affected the party’s overall vote share during the Lok Sabha poll.. Even Gadkari , who won the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat for the second term,  the victory margin was reduced  to 1.37 lakh votes in 2024 as against 2.14 lakh in 2019.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, Fadnavis defeated Gudadhe in Nagpur South West in a multi-corner contest – with the Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress, and the NCP, all contesting separately. But that time a Modi wave was sweeping throughout the country . Ultimately, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party winning 122 out of 288 seats and Fadnavis became the chief minister of Maharashtra and completed a full term (2014-2019). In  2019 state polls , Fadnavis defeated Congress nominee Ashish Deshmukh who quit the BJP and got Congress ticket. 

A law graduate, Fadnavis started his political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He achieved the feat of becoming a corporator at 22 years, and the second-youngest mayor in India at the age of 27. He also became the second youngest chief minister at 44 years in 2014. His second tenure as CM lasted just 80 hours after the 2019 Assembly polls. Fadnavis contested and won his first Assembly election from Nagpur West constituency in 1999.