Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagde
Credit: @RajBhavanJaipur
During the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls, Congress was facing its toughest electoral battle in the state. To overcome the challenge, the grand old party opted for its tried and tested names to win the polls. Among them was the former minister Madhukar Chavan, the oldest candidate in the fray.
The 82-year-old veteran leader was sitting MLA from Tuljapur in Osmanabad and was seeking the sixth term as an MLA and fifth consecutive victory from Tuljapur assembly constituency.
Chavan, known for his characteristic ‘dhoti kurta’ attire, had secured a win from Tuljapur assembly constituency by a margin over 29,400 votes against NCP despite the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014.
Chavan, who began his career as a panchayat samiti member, went on to become an MLA and also served as chairman of Marathwada Development Board, a statutory body. He had also served as the deputy speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
However, BJP’s Ranajagjitsinha Patil ended the winning streak of the 82-year-old Congress veteran. Chavan lost to Patil by a margin of 23,000 votes. While Chavan bagged 75,865 votes, Patil got 99,034.
After Chavan, BJP leader Haribhau Bagde, 75, was the other older candidate in the fray. In the 2014 state elections, veteran Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader and 11-time MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh (92) from Sangola in Solapur district was the oldest candidate.
Bagde had lost the 2009 Assembly polls from Phulambri to the Congress’s Kalyan Kale by just over 2,000 votes but won the seat in 2014 and went on to retain it in 2019.
In 2024, BJP rewarded Bagde for his years of service to the saffron camp and appointed him as Rajasthan Governor.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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