The ripple effect of a political tsunami caused by the dramatic splits witnessed in the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in June 2022 and July 2023 respectively –which spawned two new breakaway parties in the state --- will be felt for the first time, as eleven constituencies go to polls in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

The third phase of LS polling is very crucial, considering that at stake are seven politically influential seats in sugar-rich western Maharashtra ---Baramati, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Satara, Kolhapur and Hatkanangale, two seats in coastal Konkan region – Raigad and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and two seats from Marathwada –Osmanabad and Latur.   

The mother of all electoral battles in Maharashtra is being waged between the prominent members of the Pawar family -- Sharad Pawar’s daughter and three-time MP Supriya Sule and his estranged nephew and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar --- in Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. This is the first-ever occasion in the Maharashtra political history that the two members of the Pawar family are pitted against each other in an election. 

Two scions of iconic Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj -- Shrimant Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Shrimant Chhatrapati Udyanraje Bhosale –are trying their luck in Kolhapur and Satara constituencies respectively.   

Senior BJP leader, former chief minister and current Union Minister Narayan Rane, who is seeking election to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and veteran Congress leader and former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter Praniti Shinde (Solapur) are two other prominent contenders in the third phase of polling.

That the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra is of vital importance can be evidenced from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed as many as seven rallies ---in Pune, Solapur, Madha, Satara, Kolhapur, Osmanabad (Dharashiv) and Latur – and reached out voters in all the poll-bound constituencies in western Maharashtra and neighbouring  Marathwada. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned for the BJP in Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. 

Chief minister Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar of the NCP, two breakaway outfits and allies of the BJP, have also campaigned extensively in the poll-bound constituencies.    From the Opposition side, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have addressed rallies in Pune and Latur respectively. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who is leading the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from the front, has addressed rallies in all the eleven poll-bound constituencies, while NCP chief Sharad Pawar – who wields considerable influence among the people in western Maharashtra, has covered a majority of the poll-bound constituencies.

The BJP has maximum stakes in the third phase of polling as it is contesting six out of the 11 poll-bound seats, while the NCP (Ajit Pawar) has fielded candidates in three constituencies and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is in the fray in two seats.

From the Opposition MVA side, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is contesting a maximum of five seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Congress have put up candidates in three constituencies each.This is the first major elections being held after the vertical split in the Shiv Sena, which has thrown up a new Shiv Sena headed by chief minister Eknath Shinde, and the rebellion within the NCP which saw Ajit Pawar walked out a majority of the party MLAs and joined the Eknath Shinde Sena-BJP government on July 2, 2023.

Owing to the split in both the Sena and NCP and subsequent formation of new break-away outfits headed by Eknath Shinde and Ajit respectively, the parent parties have suffered badly so much so that the Uddhav Thackeray-headed Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP have lost party’s name as well as their symbols. It remains to be seen how both the parent parties and their off-shoots will fare in the elections.    

From among all the 11 poll-bound constituencies, an unprecedented electoral battle is going on in NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s home turf of Baramati. Though the contest is Supriya Sule of the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Sunetra Pawar of the NCP (Ajit Pawar), it has become a battle of prestige between the uncle and the estranged nephew.