NEW DELHI: In the Kankavli constituency, BJP leader Nitesh Rane is leading ahead of Sandesh Bhaskar Parkar, a candidate for the Shiv Sena (UBT), according to preliminary results from the Maharashtra Assembly election. At 8 a.m., the vote count started, with Rane hoping to win a third consecutive term.
Rane, who has served as Kankavli’s MLA since 2014, is running under the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which also includes the NCP (Ajit Pawar group) and the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction). In this hotly contested seat, Parkar has been put forward by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is made up of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the NCP under Sharad Pawar.
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Rane and Parkar are engaged in a bipolar struggle for the Kankavli seat, but the campaign has taken on a new dimension with the entry of Chandrakant Abaji Jadhav from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The ruling Mahayuti alliance and the MVA engaged in a bitter contest during the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Exit polls have shown mixed results; some predict an MVA victory with 150 seats, while others, like the Electoral Edge survey, give the Mahayuti a clear majority of 175–195 seats.
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Nitesh Rane has bolstered his position in Kankavli by leveraging his track record of development initiatives and grassroots connections. Since winning by large margins in 2014 and 2019, he has established himself as a powerful and outspoken leader in the area. Parkar and the MVA, meanwhile, are concentrating on governance concerns and working to strengthen anti-incumbency sentiment.
Kankavli continues to be an important seat both strategically and symbolically as the count of Maharashtra’s 288 constituencies continues. The outcome of the election will influence the state’s larger political climate in addition to determining Rane’s destiny.