Nagpur: The gram panchayat (GP) polls scheduled for this Sunday involve high stakes in Nagpur as political egos are on the line, considering top leadership of both BJP and Congress hails from Eastern Vidarbha region. In Nagpur, 1,106 candidates are in the fray for sarpanch posts while just over 6,800 are in fray for post of members.Though GP polls are not fought on party symbols, every party backs some or the other candidate and the results become a report card of sorts which parties then flaunt if it goes their way.And now with the Maratha agitation stir, opinion is divided on whether it will have any impact on the voting pattern.Sudhakar Kohle, BJP president (Nagpur district-rural) feels the impact will be zero. The GP polls are fought heart-to-heart and man-to-man. All that matters here is how good your relationship is at the ground level. Voters in GP do not get swayed at all by state level or national level issues. Here its all about which candidate will benefit their village the most, said Kohle. So while nobody is contesting on party symbols nor is anyone impacted by state level politics, Kohle agreed that GP polls will serve as a benchmark for political currents. Kohle added, Performance in these polls does depend on how the partys public representative from that area is perceived by the people. If they think that he or she has done a good job, then votes swing your way.Kohle stressed that its all about the personal connection with voters. They are an emotional lot at this level. Even if they are close to the candidate, if theres something which they disapprove then they will defeat him, said Kohle.Senior Congress leader and former minister of state Rajendra Mulak also felt the Maratha stir wont have an impact here because of the demographics. We have over 70% OBC population here in Nagpur and surrounding districts. So the agitation by Maratha community wont impact the voting pattern for GP polls, he said.BJP and Congress, two of the biggest parties in district, have a lot at stake because of the leaders who hail from here. From Union minister Nitin Gadkari to deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and BJPs state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule all hail from Nagpur. Even for Congress, state party president Nana Patole is from neighbouring Bhandara and leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar from Chandrapur. Currently Congress party holds a sway on the GP which the BJP is trying to break into.

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