Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat: AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel Syed pitted against Shiv Sena (UBT) Chandrakant Khaire again
Aurangabad: The electoral battleground in Aurangabad, now known as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, is set for a contest between Shiv Sena candidate Sandipan Bhumre, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Chandrakant Khaire, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sushil Kumar Singh and AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel.
Aurangabad will undergo voting in Phase 4 of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the counting will be held on June 4.
In the 2019 General Assembly Elections, Aurangabad recorded a 63.41 per cent voter turnout. AIMIM candidate Imtiaz Jaleel Syed registered victory by securing 3,89,042 votes defeating Chandrakant Khaire with a margin of 4,492 votes. Notably, Chandrakant Khaire managed to secure 3,89,042 votes.
The Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency one of the 48 constituencies of Maharashtra encompasses six legislative assembly seats namely, Kannad, Aurangabad Central, Aurangabad West (SC), Aurangabad East, Gangapur, and Vaijapur.
The Lok Sabha constituency has been a stronghold of Shiv Sena. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections marked a significant change in the political landscape with a victory of AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel Syed against much influential Shiv Sena leader Chandrakant Khaire.
Chandrakant Khaire registered four times consecutive victories but failed to withstand Imtiaz Jaleel Syed despite his heavy popularity.
Notably, Aurangabad has been a political powerhouse of Maharashtra and reflects a diverse demographic diversity. Each assembly segment has distinct socio-economic and local issues.
The state, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Following the split in the Shiva Sena 2022, the Eknath Shinde faction aligned with the BJP.
