PARBHANI

Parbhani, earlier also known as “ Prabhavatinagar ”, is one of the eight districts in the Marathawada region of Maharashtra State. During the time of India’s independence, the region that now comprises the Parbhani district was a part of the then-princely Hyderabad State (under Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan). It was eventually annexed into the Union of India in 1950 and later, under the States Reorganization Act of 1956, the state of Hyderabad was divided into Andhra Pradesh and the Bombay State, which is when the region became a part of the Bombay State. With the implementation of the Bombay Reorganization Act of 1960, the Bombay State was further divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the region of Parbhani was then included in the state of Maharashtra.

The district is bounded on the north by the Hingoli district. On the east by Nanded district, on the South by Latur, and on the West by Beed and Jalna districts.

The Parbhani district consists of the Parbhani Lok Sabha, which includes six Vidhan Sabha segments: Jintoor, Parbhani, Gangakhed, Pathri, Partur, and Ghansangvi. Only Partur and Ghansangvi among the Vidhan Sabha segments are situated outside the district, which falls within Jalna district.

Within the Vidhan Parishad, the Parbhani District is represented by Parbhani-Hingoli Local Bodies Authorities Constituency, the Aurangabad Teachers’ Constituency, and the Aurangabad 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 Parbhani district and the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha Constituencies that fall within and around it.

Based on records from the delimitation reports by the Election Commission, the given chart provides an overview of the changes that have occurred in the composition of the Parbhani Lok Sabha constituency and the reshuffling of the Vidhan Sabha constituencies with every delimitation that has been done.

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

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

Fouzia Khan, a member of Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP), is from Parbhani district, an is  currently representing Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha.

The Guardian Minister of Parbhani district is Meghana Sakore Bordikar (BJP).

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

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

There are 9 Urban Local Bodies in the Parbhani District: 1 Mahanagar Palika, 7 Nagar Parishad, 1 Nagar Panchayat. There are 704 Gram Panchayats.

The Parbhani Municipal Corporation is a D-grade municipal corporation in Maharashtra, comprising 65 seats. In 2011, the Maharashtra State Cabinet approved the elevation of Parbhani, along with Latur and Chandrapur, to the status of a municipal corporation. The Parbhani Municipal Corporation was officially established in 2012. Since its formation, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) have held power in the corporation. Pratap Deshmukh of the NCP served as its first Mayor.

Parbhani district has several Municipal Councils (Nagar Parishads) that manage urban governance in towns across the region. These include Gangakhed Nagar Parishad, Jintoor Nagar Parishad, Manwath Nagar Parishad, Pathri Nagar Parishad, Purna Nagar Parishad, Selu Nagar Parishad, and Sonpeth Nagar Parishad. Each of these councils is responsible for providing basic services, maintaining infrastructure, and implementing development schemes in their respective towns.

Palam functions as a Town Council (Nagar Panchayat) in Parbhani, catering to the needs of a smaller urban settlement with a semi-rural character.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, there were a total of 15 contestants from Parbhani. Out of these, five candidates had criminal cases against them, with two of the contestants having serious cases registered. The contestant with the highest number of criminal cases registered was from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and had 15 cases registered against them. The elected MP, Sanjay Jadhav from SHS, has six criminal cases against him.

In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha election, there were a total of 80 contestants from the six Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Parbhani Lok Sabha. Out of these, 27 contestants had criminal cases against them, and seven of them had serious cases registered. The political parties, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, and NCP had the highest number of candidates with criminal cases.

From the elected MLAs, five have serious criminal cases registered against them. Ratnakar Manikrao Gutte from the Gagankhed Vidhan Sabha constituency has the highest number of criminal cases. The only MLA without any registered cases is Rajeshbhaiyya Tope from Gansavangi Vidhan Sabha Constituency.

Between September and October 2023, several districts in Marathwada were affected by widespread protests led by Jarange Patil, advocating for the inclusion of the Maratha community in the OBC category for reservations in government jobs and education. In Parbhani, stones were pelted at Police officers and vehicles.

To protest against the lack of infrastructural development and negligence shown towards them, around 5,500 voters from eight villages staged a near-total boycott of the 2019 Assembly elections. In November 2019, the villages of Lasina, Thadi Ukkadgaon, Wadi Pimpalgaon, Thadi Pimpalgaon, Gangapimpri, Golegaon, Lohigram, and Kharpi Tanda were planning to petition the central government and the then-governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, to designate their area as a Union Territory, citing longstanding neglect by local authorities and unfulfilled promises as the primary reasons behind their demand.