Jalna (Maharashtra) Election 2019: Will BJP's Raosaheb Danve win for the sixth consecutive time?

Jalna is one of the 14 parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra that went to polls in the third phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on April 23. The current sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Raosaheb Danve is seeking a fifth consecutive term from the seat. The Congress has fielded Vilas Autade and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has opted to go with Sharadchandra Wankhede against Danve.

Jalna district falls under the Aurangabad division and it comprises of six Legislative segments. The constituency has over 14 lakh electorates out of which 675,099 are females and 751,156 are males.

The Jalna seat has been a pocket borough of the BJP since it first won from the constituency in 1989. The party has lost just once from the seat ever since. After two successful terms with Uttamsingh Pawar, the BJP decided to field Danve for the first time in 1999 and he has repaid the faith of the party by winning elections from here four times on the trot.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Raosahab Danve has secured his fourth successive term as the Jalna MP after seeing off Vilas Autade in a comfortable victory. Danve secured 5.91 lakh votes at 55.47 per cent vote share while Autade managed to receive 3.84 lakh votes at 36.07 per cent vote share. Wankhede stood at the third spot with a meager return of 67,300 votes at just 6.31 per cent vote share.

Earlier in the 2009 elections, Danve emerged triumphant but in a narrow victory over Kalyan Kale of the Congress. The BJP leader garnered some 3.50 lakh votes while Kale was the runner up with 3.42 lakh votes. Back in 2004, Uttam Singh Pawar of the Congress had finished behind Danve in a close contest.