Maharashtra Assembly Election 2019, Aheri profile: BJP's Ambrishrao Atram faces Deepak Atram, uncle Dharmarao Atram as NCP and Congress go solo in constituency

Aheri Assembly Election 2019| The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections. Voting for the 288-member Assembly will be held on 21 October in a single phase. The counting of votes and final results will be declared on 24 October, authorities said. The term of the Devendra Fadnavis-led current Maharashtra Assembly will end on 9 November.

The notification and nomination process for the Assembly election was issued on 27 September. Candidates could file their nominations latest by 4 October. The scrutiny of nomination papers was done on 5 October and the last date to withdraw candidature from the electoral battle was 7 October. A total of 95,473 polling stations will be set up for over 8.95 crore voters in Maharashtra.

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There are three reserved seats under the Scheduled Tribe category in the Gadchiroli district — Armori (ST), Gadchiroli (ST), Aheri (ST)

File image of an EVM. CNN-News18

Constituency Name – Aheri

Constituency Number – 69

District – Gadchiroli

Total Electors – 236208

Female Electors – 116709

Male Electors – 119497

Third Gender—2

Reserved – Yes (ST)

Results in previous elections: In the 2009 Assembly election, Independent candidate Dipak Mallaji Atram won this seat with 61,894 votes against NCP candidate Dharmarao Atram who netted only 36,697 votes. In 2014, Ambrishrao RS Atram, from an erstwhile royal family of Gadchiroli, contested the election on a BJP ticket and won receiving 56,418 votes against NCP's Dharmarao Atram who netted only 36,560 votes.

In the 2019 election, both Congress and NCP have fielded their respective candidates from Aheri, despite having formed a pre-poll alliance. While the NCP has fielded sitting BJP MLA Ambrishrao's uncle Dharmarao Atram, Congress's candidate is Deepak Dada Atram who had won the 2009 election as an Independent candidate. Ambrishrao was the minister of tribal development and forest in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet, but dropped from it few months ago.

Also, in the fray are Madhukar Yashwant Sadmek of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Nagesh Laxman Torrem of the Peasants And Workers Party of India and Advocate Lalsu Soma Nogoti of the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi, among others.

Demographics: This town is located on the banks of river Pranhita.