Adsul may have to struggle hat-trick

Amravati: Shiv Sena MP Anand Vithoba Adsul hopes to post a hat-trick of wins from Amravati Lok Sabha constituency, once a Congress bastion.
The constituency turned saffron since 1996 when Anant Gudhe snatched it from Congress’s Pratibha Patil, who was the last Congress candidate to win in 1991. She did not contest in 1996, thanks to Congress supporting the candidature of RPI’s RS Gavai, who lost to Gudhe.The RPI stalwart did manage to put it across Gudhe two years later, but in 1999 Gudhe won it back and retained the seat in 2004.
When the constituency got reserved for SC category in 2009, Sena’s Anandrao Adsul took over from Gudhe and managed to retain it in 2014 also, thanks largely to a strong ‘Modi wave’. Having survived in 2014 in an acrimonious and controversial fight against NCP’s Navneet Kaur Rana, Adsul seems set to sail through troubled waters this time too. With Modi wave not so prominent this time and a visible undercurrent of displeasure over his own performance, Adsul will have to fight on several fronts to save his seat.
Amravati district has eight assembly segments, but Amravati Lok Sabha constituency has only six of them in it — Amravati, Badnera, Teosa, Achalpur, Melghat and Daryapur. Morshi and Dhamangaon Railway constituencies are included in Wardha Lok Sabha constituency.
Amravati constituency has the distinction of giving the first agriculture minister of independent India in Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh, who won the first LS poll in 1957 and retained it in 1962 also.
A bypoll in 1965 was also won by Congress’s DV Panjabrao and then KG Deshmukh triumphed for Congress in 1967 and 1971, while Nanasaheb Bonde carried forward the Congress’s torch in 1977. After the split in Congress after the fall of Indira Gandhi in 1977, Indira loyalist Ushatai Chaudhary won the seat in 1980 and 1984. A popular movement in favour of CPI’s Sudam Deshmukh saw Congress taking a beating for the first time in 1989, but Pratibha Patil returned to contest Amravati seat for Congress in 1991 and that was the last the Congress ruled the seat. It has been Shiv Sena backyard with the sole exception of 1998.
With BJP-Sena forming a pre-poll alliance after a bitter wordy duel, Adsul has certainly breathed a sigh of relief.
Adsul polled 4,67,212 votes during the Modi wave of 2014 as against Navneet Kaur Rana’s impressive 3,29,280.
There were 10,04,061 voters, including 4,47,811 female voters then and polling percentage was 62. In 2019, the number of voters is 18,12,448, that is an increase of 8,07,387 new voters. The number of female voters — 8,77,322 — will play a crucial role in deciding Adsul’s fate.
Amravati LS Constituency Winners
1957 Panjabrao Deshmukh (INC)
1962 Panjabrao Deshmukh (INC)
1965 (bypoll) Vimalbai Deshmukh (widow of Panjabrao) (INC)
1967 KG Deshmukh (INC)
1971 KG Deshmukh (INC)
1980 Ushatai Chaudhary INC(I)
1984 Ushatai Chaudhary (INC)
1989 Sudam Deshmukh (CPI)
1991 Pratibha Patil (INC)
1996 Anant Gudhe (SS)
1998 RS Gavai (RPI-G)
1999 Anant Gudhe (SS)
2004 Anant Gudhe (SS)
2009 Anandrao Adsul (SS)
2014 Anandrao Adsul (SS)
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Total number of voters in 2019: 18,12,448
Male voters: 9,35,090
Female voters: 8,77,322
Transgenders:36
Polling booths: 1,926
EVM control units:3,383
Ballot units: 5,911
VVPAT machines: 3,657