BULDHANA

Buldhana district was originally part of West Berar, a region historically situated between the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad State and the British-administered Central Provinces. In 1867, Buldhana district was officially created by merging the existing North Berar and Mehkar districts under the British-administered Berar division. In 1903, the Nizam formally leased the Berar region, including Buldhana, to the British Government of India, solidifying British administrative authority while it continued to be technically part of Hyderabad State.

Following India’s independence in 1947, Berar was merged into the new state of Madhya Pradesh in 1950. Later, with the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, the Marathi-speaking regions of Madhya Pradesh, including Buldhana, were transferred to the Bombay State. Finally, after the Bombay Reorganisation Act of 1960, the Bombay State was bifurcated, and Buldhana became part of the newly formed state of Maharashtra.

The Buldhana district comprises the Buldhana Lok Sabha constituency, which encompasses 6 Vidhan Sabha segments: Buldhana, Chikhali, Jalgaon (Jamod), Khamgaon, Mehkar, and Sindkhed Raja.

Within the Vidhan Parishad, the Buldhana District is represented by the Akola-cum-Washim-cum-Buldhana Local Bodies Authorities Constituency, the Amravati Teachers’ Constituency, and the Amravati Graduates Constituency. The graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies are based on the administrative divisions of Maharashtra.

The given maps provide an overview of the boundaries of the Buldhana district, as well as the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha constituencies that fall within and around it.

The given chart provides an overview of the changes that have occurred in the composition of the Buldhana Lok Sabha constituency and the reshuffling of the Vidhan Sabha constituencies with every delimitation that has been done.

The current Member of Parliament (MP) representing Buldhana district in the Lok Sabha, as of 2024:

The following are the current Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) representing constituencies in Buldhana district, as of 2024:

There is no member from the Buldhana district currently in the Rajya Sabha.

The following is the current Guardian Minister for Buldhana district, as of 2024:

The following table lists the current members of the Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad representing Buldhana district through various constituencies, as of 2024:

The following are the key administrative heads of Buldhana district, as of 2024:

There are 13 urban local bodies in the Buldhana District: 11 Nagar Parishads and 2 Nagar Panchayats. There are 877 Gram Panchayats and 13 Panchayat Samitis.

Buldhana Zilla Parishad was established in 1962 under the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads Act. The logo of Buldhana Zila Parishad features the image of the mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shri Jijabai.

Buldhana district has several municipal councils (Nagar Parishads) that serve as urban local governance bodies. These include Buldhana Nagar Parishad, Chikhali Nagar Parishad, Deulgaon Raja Nagar Parishad, Jalgaon-Jamod Nagar Parishad, Khamgaon Nagar Parishad, Lonar Nagar Parishad, Malkapur Nagar Parishad, Mehkar Nagar Parishad, Nandura Nagar Parishad, Shegaon Nagar Parishad, and Sindkhed Raja Nagar Parishad.

The district also has two Nagar Panchayats, or town councils, which function as local administrative units in semi-urban areas. These are the Motala Nagar Panchayat and the Sangrampur Nagar Panchayat.

Tarabai Shinde (1850–1910) was a pioneering feminist thinker, activist, and writer from Bhandara district. She is best known for her pathbreaking Marathi pamphlet ‘Stri Purush Tulana’ (A Comparison Between Women and Men), published in 1882. The text offered a radical critique of caste and patriarchy and is widely regarded as the first modern Indian feminist work.

Born into an educated and reform-minded family, Tarabai was the only daughter of a head clerk in the Deputy Commissioner of Revenues’ office, who himself authored ‘Hint to the Educated Natives’ in 1871. At a time when girls’ education was rare and there were no girls’ schools in the region, her father taught her Marathi, Sanskrit, and English at home. She had four brothers and was married young, but her circumstances were unconventional for the time. Her husband lived in her parental home, allowing her more autonomy than most women of her era.

Shinde was closely associated with reformers Jotirao and Savitribai Phule and was a founding member of the ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’ (Truth-Seeking Society), an anti-caste and gender justice movement. Alongside the Phules, she engaged deeply with questions of social inequality, challenging both Brahmanical patriarchy and caste oppression in her writing and activism.

On 11 February 2023, a protest led by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Ravikant Tupkar was held in front of the Collector’s office. The demonstration, which was initially peaceful, was organized to demand fair compensation for soybean and cotton farmers, who had received inadequate support for crop losses. During the protest, Tupkar threatened self-immolation. The situation escalated when police resorted to a lathi charge, leading to the detention of around 50 of Tupkar’s supporters.

On 18 July 2024, nearly 10 people were injured in a stone-pelting incident between two groups during a Muharram procession. The alleged incident took place at around 7 pm as the procession began at Gujri Chowk and was on its way to the Garib Shah Baba dargah.