Belagavi-based political party Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti has announced that it will nominate candidates in two Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. Mahadev Patil will be its candidate in Belagavi and Niranjan Sardesai in Uttara Kannada (erstwhile Canara) seat.
Both the candidates, however, will contest as independents as MES is a registered party, but not a recognised party. They will get priority in the allotment of free symbols, but cannot claim exclusive symbols as per provisions of the Representation of People’s Act.
Since the 1950s, MES has been seeking merger of all Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka from Khanapur in Belagavi to Aurad in Bidar with Maharashtra. It has been working with the Maharashtra government to enrol Marathi speakers in 865 villages and towns in Karnataka in the Mahatma Phule health scheme of the neighbouring State.
Man-of-the-masses candidate in Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency
Mahadev Patil, 66, has been associated with the MES for over four decades. He runs a road side tea shop. He describes himself as “Belgaumcha sarvasamanya Marathi manus” (an ordinary Marathi-speaker of Belagavi). He says, “If a tea-seller can become the PM, why can’t he be the MP of Belagavi?”
His candidature is expected to eat into the vote share of the BJP and the Congress. BJP nominee Jagadish Shettar is banking on the votes of the Maratha youth, considered the saffron party’s traditional vote base. But the MES counts Maratha youth among its cadre, and will aim for their votes.
The MES campaign may also stunt the chances of Congress nominee Mrinal Hebbalkar, whose mother and Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar has been elected from Belagavi Rural, which is considered a Maratha majority Assembly seat.
IT engineer is the candidate in Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency
Niranjan Sardesai is a 40-year-old IT engineer working in a private firm in Pune. He hails from Khanapur in Belagavi district, that is part of the Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. He may pose a problem for Congress candidate Anjali Nimbalkar. Both belong to the Kshatriya Maratha community.
Dr Nimbalkar has served as the the MLA of Khanapur for one term. Their fight is expected to not only divide Maratha votes, but also reduce the vote flow towards the BJP.
