The Bhokar assembly constituency in Maharashtra has long been a Congress bastion, with the grand old party winning all elections, except on three occasions, since 1952. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan won the last three elections on a Congress ticket.
However, with Chavan switching sides to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the election dynamics in the seat have taken a 360-degree turn. The BJP had fielded Ashok Chavan’s daughter Sreejaya Chavan as a joint candidate of the ruling Mahayuti coalition with hopes of opening an account on the seat.
Sreejaya is a third-generation Chavan to represent the Bhokar assembly seat. Previously, her grandfather and former Maharashtra CM Shankarrao Chavan won elections from this seat thrice from 1967 to 1978.
Ashok Chavan entered the Vidhan Sabha as an MLA from Bhokar in 2009. Following his win in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Ashok Chavan vacated the seat for his wife Ameeta Chavan, who won the by-polls. The former CM returned to the seat in 2019 before vacating it earlier this year to join the BJP with a Rajya Sabha nomination.
Congress fielded Tirupati Baburao Kadam Kondekar. Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi fielded Suresh Tikram Rathord.
In the 2024 polls, the Mahayuti (BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) was in a direct contest against the MVA, which includes Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).
Bhokar Candidates List
There were 25 candidates in the fray for the Bhokar seat in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election. Here’s a complete list:
| Candidate Names | Party | Votes |
| Sreejaya Ashokrao Chavan | Bharatiya Janata Party | 1,33,187 |
| Kadam Kondhekar Tirupati Alias Pappu Baburao | Indian National Congress | 82,636 |
| Suresh Tikaram Rathod | Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi | 8,872 |
| Kamleshkumar Pandurangrao Choudante | Bahujan Samaj Party | 1,664 |
| Nagnath Laxman Ghisewad | Janhit Lokshahi Party | 1,272 |
| Saiprasad Suryakantrao Jatalwar | Maharashtra Navnirman Sena | 846 |
| Chandrakant Vitthal Mustapure | Independent | 780 |
| Dasharath Babayya Swami | Independent | 680 |
| Jakir Sagir Shaikh | Independent | 493 |
| Dinesh Muktiram Lone | Republican Sena | 396 |
| Gautam Arjun Sawate | Independent | 384 |
| NOTA | 284 | |
| M.Afasar M.Navaj | Independent | 279 |
| Sahebrao Baba Gorathakar | Rashtriya Samaj Paksha | 234 |
| Santosh Prabhu Gavhane | Independent | 189 |
| Altaf Ahmed Iqbal Ahmed | Independent | 172 |
| Makhsud A. Razzaq Shaikh | All India Majlis-E-Inquilab-E-Millat | 171 |
| Bhimrao Sambhaji Dudhare | Independent | 157 |
| Ashok Madhavrao Kshirsagar | Independent | 152 |
| Tirupati Devidas Kadam | Janata Dal (Secular) | 114 |
| Dr.Arjunkumar Seetaram Rathod | Jan Janwadi Party | 103 |
| Kausar Sultana Altaf Ahmed | Indian National League | 91 |
| Mahananda Nagorao Motekar | Independent | 66 |
| Madhav Narsing Mekewad | Independent | 53 |
| Vilas Digambar Shinde | Independent | 40 |
| Sambhaji Ramji Kale | Independent | 34 |
Bhokar: Polling Date
In Maharashtra, polling in all 288 seats, including Bhokar, happened on November 20. The votes were counted on November 23.
2019 result
During the 2019 polls in Maharashtra, Congress’ Ashok Chavan defeated then-BJP candidate Shrinivas alias Bapusaheb Deshmukh Gorthekar by 97445 votes.
| Candidate Names | Party | Votes |
| Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan | Indian National Congress | 140,559 votes (67.78%) |
| Shrinivas alias Bapusaheb Deshmukh Gorthekar | BJP | 43,114 votes (20.79%) |
| Ayalwad Namdev Nagorao | Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi | 17,813 votes (8.59%) |
| Bhagwan Bhimrao Kadam | SMBGP | 2,069 votes (1%) |
| Nota | 1,297 votes (0.63%) | |
| Ratnakar S/o Shamrao Taru | Bahujan Samaj Party | 1,240 votes (0.6%) |
| Paparao Pandit Chavan | Independent | 956 votes (0.46%) |
| Balaprasad Narayan Lingampalle | Independent | 334 votes (0.16%) |
First Published: Nov 23, 2024 11:49 AM IST
