Lok Sabha 2014: Constituencies for first phase of elections on 10th April in Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, elections for 2014 lok sabha will be held in 3 phases in April.
First Phase of polling will take place on 10th April in 10 constituencies all in Vidarbha and North Maharashtra region.

List of constituencies in first phase: (Won by in 2009)

1. Buldhana (Shivsena)
2. Akola (BJP)
3. Amravati (Shivsena)
4. Wardha (Congress)
5. Ramtek (Congress)
6. Bhandara-Gondia (NCP)
7. Gadchiroli-Chimur (Congress)
8. Chandrapur (BJP)
9. Nagpur (Congress)
10. Yavatmal-Washim (Shivsena)

Both Shivsena-BJP and Congress-NCP alliances won 5 seats each in 2009 elections.
Praful Patel, Nitin Gadkari are most likely to win their respective constituencies and there will be close fight in all other constituencies between Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP.

Buldhana:

In 2009, Prataprao Jadhav of Shivsena (353,671) won against Rajendra Shingane of NCP (325,593) by 28078 votes. BSP's Vasantrao Dandge got 81763 votes which helped Shivsena to win by small margin.

2014 Candidates:

Candidate	Party
Prataprao Jadhav	Shivsena
Krishnarao Ingale	NCP
Balasaheb Darade	Independent
Sudhir Surve	Aam Aadmi Party

Akola:

In 2009, Sanjay Dhotre of BJP (287,526) won against Prakash Ambedkar of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha (222,678) by 64848 votes. Babasaheb Dhabekar of Congress party got 182776 votes. BJP won due to three cornered fight. 

2014 Candidates:

Candidate	Party
Sanjay Dhotre	BJP
Prakash Ambedkar	Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha
Hidayat Patel	Congress
Ajay Panjabrao Hinglekar	Aam Aadmi Party

Amravati:

In 2009, Anandrao Adsul of Shivsena (314,286) won against Rajendra Gawai of RPI (252,570) by 61716 votes. 

2014 Candidates: Navneet Kaur Rana is wife of MLA Ravi Rana and Actress.

Party	Candidate
Anandrao Adsul	Shivsena
Navneet Kaur Rana	NCP
Rajendra Gawai	RPI(G)
Bhavna Vasnik	Aam Aadmi Party

Wardha:

In 2009, Datta Meghe of Congress (352,853) won against Suresh Waghmare of BJP (256,935) by 95918 votes. BSP's Bipin Kangale got 131,643 votes.

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Ramdas Tadas	BJP
Sagar Meghe	Congress
Chetan Pendam	BSP
Mohd. Alim Patel	Aam Aadmi Party

Ramtek:

In 2009, Mukul Wasnik of Congress (311,614) won against Krupal Tumane of Shivsena (294,913) by 16701 votes, lowest victory margin in Vidarbha region. BSP's Prakashbhau Tembhurne got 62238 votes. 

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Krupal Tumane	Shivsena
Mukul Wasnik	Congress
Kiran Rodge	BSP
Pratap Goswami	Aam Aadmi Party

Bhandara-Gondia:

In 2009, Praful Patel of NCP (489,814) won against Independent candidate Nana Patole (325,593) by 251915 votes, biggest margin in Vidarbha region. BJP's Shishupal Patle came third with 158938 votes.

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Nana Patole	Shivsena
Praful Patel	NCP
Sanjay Nasare	BSP
Prashant Mishra	Aam Aadmi Party

Gadchiroli-Chimur:

In 2009, Marutrao Kowase of Congress (321,756) won against Ashok Nete of BJP (293,176) by 28078 votes. BSP's Raje Satyawanrao Atram got 135,756 votes which helped Congress to win by small margin in three cornered fight.

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Ashok Nete	BJP
Namdev Usendi	Congress
Ramrao Nannaware	BSP
Dr. Rameshkumar Gajbe	Aam Aadmi Party

Chandrapur:

In 2009, Hansraj Ahir of BJP (301,145) won against Naresh Pugalia of Congress (268,799) by 32495 votes. Wamanrao Chatap of Swatantra Party got 169112 votes.

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Hansraj Ahir	BJP
Sanjay Deotale	Congress
Wamanrao Chatap	Aam Aadmi Party

Nagpur:

In 2009, Vilas Muttemwar of Congress (315,148) won against Banwarilal Purohit of BJP (290,749) by 24399 votes. BSP's Manikrao Vaidya got 118741 votes which helped Congress to win by small margin.

2014 Candidates: Nagpur is one of the key battle this time as Nitin Gadkari is contesting from here. Anjali Damania of AAP and seating MP Vilas Muttemwar of Congress are fighting against him. Nagpur is RSS hometown and Gadkari is most likely to win from here.

Party	Candidate
Nitin Gadkari	BJP
Vilas Muttemwar	Congress
Mohan Gaikwad	BSP
Anjali Damania	Aam Aadmi Party

Yavatmal-Washim:

In 2009, Bhavana Gawli of Shivsena (384,443) won against Hari Singh Rathod of Congress(327492) by 56951 votes. BSP's Dilip Yedatkar got 62781 votes. Bhavana Gawli has won twice from here

2014 Candidates:

Party	Candidate
Bhavana Gawli	Shivsena
Shivajirao Moghe	Congress
Baliram Rathod	BSP
Naresh Rathod	Aam Aadmi Party

Lok Sabha 2014 : Narendra Modi contesting from Varanasi

In much anticipated move by BJP, Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi, city of temples is spiritual capital of India. U.P. is most important state in this election and if BJP wins more than 40 seats here, NDA government headed by Modi is confirm. As per media reports, BJP is doing well in U.P. this time.
BJP is winning Varanasi seat since 1991 except one occasion in 2004 when Congress won.
In 2009, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi of BJP won by very small margin.
Varanasi is now the center of 2014 election battle. Modi will definitely win there. Question is about winning margin.
Kejriwal of AAP is creating hype by planning to contest against Modi but it is very difficult for him to even save his deposit.
Modi is also contesting from Vadodara, Gujarat and he will win both seats. I wish that he should not surrender Varanasi seat after elections because Varanasi needs him more for development.

Lok Sabha 2014 : February Update - Election fever started

Many things changed in February.

Key events were:

1. Resignation of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
2. USA delegates meets Narendra Modi.
3. Telangana state bill passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
4. Ramvilas Paswan joins NDA.
5. Anna Hazare supports Mamata Banerjee.

BJP and Modi are still way ahead as per the public mood but unlikely to reach magic figure of 272. There are still few days for them to try and reach as close to that figure. BJP is likely to win 200+ seats (200-220) as per current trend. Add 20 seats of their allies.
Congress is likely to win 100 seats and 15-20 of their allies.
Mamata, Jagan Reddy, Jayalalithaa are doing well in their respective states.
AAP has lost ground because of their irresponsible behaviour. They will hardly reach to two digit.

Loksabha 2014: Its advantage BJP after AAP fail after end of Jan 2014

As this is election year and these elections are going to be very important for future of India.
After end of Jan 2014: First month of Election year ends and currently its advantage BJP.

AAP:
When new year started, AAP was in full swing and its popularity was rising exponentially. After first 2 weeks of January, AAP started to become strong contender against BJP especially in urban regions. As Congress is already on losing side before the polls (but you can't rule out them as still 3 months to poll), BJP surely expected to win.
AAP's popularity was warning sign for BJP but few things in last two weeks made them feel more relax.
So what went wrong for AAP:
1. Somnath bharti episode
2. AAP dharna ( if intention of dharna was for delhi police under delhi govt instead of action against officers in khirki incident, it would have been positive in the eye of common people)
3. Focus on media attention instead of governance.
4. Too early entry in Lok Sabha poll campaign. If they govern delhi well till march and really show people of good governance, people oriented policies then they still have good chance.
Right now, they should focus only on delhi and solve as many problems as possible or at least show their intentions of good governance.
I still dont understand why they want to continue with somnath bharti if they say that they are not in power to become ministers. Don't they have another good option available to replace Mr. Bharati? It sends bad message that people in AAP also want to stick to ministerial chairs.

BJP:
They have really strong PM candidate Narendra Modi. They managed to bury all the differences in party and looks like a cohesive unit.
Failure of central government on corruption, price rise, indecisiveness, fall in growth is major advantage for BJP.
Modi has a vision of development and proven track record of Gujarat development. I never visited gujarat but every friend of mine who visited there tells about developments in gujarat.
But there are few negative points as well. Many people hate him because of his so called possible involvement in 2002 riots. But people forget that he always talk about inclusive development.
One more negative point which he rectified quickly was few mistakes in his earlier speeches about history. But his speeches in last one month are perfect. He has great number of followers and number is increasing day by day.
Big question is whether BJP achieve magic number of 272 (or even 220+).

Congress:
Oldest party of India is struggling this time because of their own mistakes. There is no chance of congress winning more than 125 seats at this moment. They can even go to double digit ie. less than 100.
Rahul gandhi started his political career with great hope to emerging india. He had golden opportunity to prove him when congress won in 2009. But he failed. His interview to Arnab last week was pathetic and total failure.
Only target for congress at this moment is to stop BJP below 200. Positive thing for congress in maharashtra is clean image of CM Prithviraj chavan. But they need more people like him. Nothing positive to talk at this moment for centre leadership.

Update about Shirur Lok Sabha constituency where I will vote : Shivsena-BJP candidate Mr. Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil of Shivsena is way ahead of all others and Congress-NCP is struggling to find right candidate to contest against him. His image is also good among people. So its advantage Shivsena-BJP in Shirur at this moment.

Other parties : Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Jagan in Andhra are winning in their states at this moment.