WHILE the Maharashtra state committee of the CPI(M) had initially decided to contest three Lok Sabha seats in the state, it later decided to fight a fourth one as well. This is the constituency of Hingoli which is spread over parts of the Vidarbha region (Yavatmal district) and Marathwada region (Nanded and Hingoli districts). Brief introductory notes on the CPI(M) nominees in these four seats follow. TANAJI SUKDEV JAYBHAVE (NASHIK) TANAJI Jaybhave has been a militant and effective activist of the CPI(M) for the last 26 years, since 1989. Born on May 7, 1963, he has completed the B Com and LLB degrees. He has been a member of the CPI(M) Nashik district committee since 2012. Earlier, he was active in the DYFI for over five years and was elected the Nashik city president of the DYFI. Tanaji Jaybhave was elected a corporator in the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) three times – in 1997, 2002 and 2012. At present he is leader of the CPI(M) group in the corporation. In the 2002 election, he won with the largest number of votes secured by any of the 108 corporators in Nashik city. This helped to increase the prestige of the party. Some of the distinctive features of his three terms as a corporator have been as follows: 1) He consistently opposed the privatisation policy and achieved a degree of success. His struggles included those against privatisation of the factory that produces fertiliser from city waste, privatisation of Octroi collection, privatisation of the memorial to Dadasaheb Phalke, the founder of Indian cinema. 2) He exposed the corruption scandals of the commissioner and other top officials of the NMC, took them right up to the chief minister with the help of the party and thus saved crores of rupees of the NMC. 3) He uncovered a serious case of poisonous toddy that was being manufactured by some corporators of the NMC. CPI(M) MLA, Narsayya Adam, raised the issue in the state assembly. By getting this poisonous toddy banned, this saved thousands of addicted youth. 4) He has been active in the CITU affiliated Nashik Municipal Corporation Employees Union and has played a major role in increasing the CITU membership there. 5) As a member of the education board of the NMC, he started three new primary schools and six new secondary schools 10 to 15 years ago. Thousands of students thus benefited. 6). Many cooperative banks in Nashik city had closed down due to the corruption of the politically powerful directors. With the consistent struggle led by the CPI(M) led Bank Bachav Samiti, a sum of over Rs 300 crore was returned to the working class and middle class depositors. 7) He defeated the plot to get the Nashik-Tryambak and Nashik-Peth highway constructed on the BOT principle. Due to this struggle, the government had to shell out money for these roads. 8) In Sinnar tehsil near Nashik city, the Indiabulls Company launched a special economic zone (SEZ) and tried to loot thousands of farmers by buying up their lands at rock bottom rates. This conspiracy was defeated through struggle and, as a result, the farmers got Rs 35 lakh per acre for their land. In all the above struggles, Tanaji Jaybhave played a leading role along with Dr D L Karad, Sitaram Thombre, Shridhar Deshpande, Adv Vasudha Karad, Sachin Bhor and others. LADKYA RUPA KHARPADE (PALGHAR, ST) LADKYA Kharpade is a militant and dedicated activist of the CPI(M) for the last 24 years, since 1990. He is a resident of Aamgaon village in Talasari tehsil and hails from the Warli adivasi tribe. Born on June 1, 1962, he studied up to the First Year BA and has now resumed his education to complete his BA degree under the Open University system. He has been a member of the CPI(M)’s Thane district committee since 2001 and a member of the Thane district secretariat since 2008. In 2010, he was elected as a director of the Thane District Central Cooperative Bank for a five year term. From 1997 to 2012, he was elected for three consecutive terms as a member of the Talasari Tehsil Panchayat Samiti, and from 2007 to 2012, he was elected vice chairman of the above panchayat samiti. Earlier in 1995, he was elected as a member of the Aamgaon gram panchayat. Thus he has the experience of working for the party from the ground level. It was under the remarkable leadership of Comrades Shamrao Parulekar and Godavari Parulekar that the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha were founded in Thane district in 1945 and it led the famous adivasi revolt. As a result of that and later struggles, the Red Flag has been flying high over the Talasari Panchayat Samiti without a break for the last 52 years since the first local body polls held in the state in 1962. Similarly, for the last 36 years without a break, since 1978, a CPI(M) MLA has been elected earlier from the Jawhar (ST) and now Dahanu (ST) assembly seat. Ladkya Kharpade is among the thousands of party activists in Thane district who has contributed to this collective achievement. Since 2007, he has been general secretary of the CITU’s Thane district committee and also the general secretary of the CITU-affiliated Lal Bavta Thane Jilha Kamgar Union. In 2012, he was elected secretary of the CITU’s Maharashtra state committee. In the last seven years, there have been innumerable struggles that have led to good agreements signed in favour of the workers in several small industries in the tribal belt of Talasari, Dahanu, Palghar and Shahapur tehsils of Thane district. From 1985 to 2001, he was active in the DYFI where he was elected a DYFI state committee member, Thane district vice president and Talasari tehsil president. During the last 25 years, Ladkya Kharpade has been working ceaselessly under the banner of the CPI(M) and has led several struggles of the working class, peasantry, agricultural workers, middle class, small traders, professionals and all other sections of the common people. These struggles have been on burning issues like the Forest Rights Act, land related questions, water for drinking and irrigation, food security and public distribution system, electricity, education, employment, health, railway services and all other questions connected with the balanced development of Thane district. HEMANT MOTIRAM WAGHERE (DINDORI, ST) HEMANT Waghere is a militant and studious activist of the CPI(M) for the last 24 years, since 1990. He is a resident of Kathipada village in Surgana tehsil and hails from the Kokana adivasi tribe. Born on June 1, 1972, he studied up to the First Year MA class. He has been a member of the CPI(M)’s Nashik district committee from 2005 and of the Nashik district secretariat since 2012. He has been elected secretary of the party’s Surgana tehsil committee twice since 2008. The Surgana tehsil has by far the largest party membership among all tehsils in Maharashtra. Earlier, he was elected to the Kathipada gram panchayat for many years and was the village Sarpanch for five years. In 1987 he began to work in the SFI. From 1990 to 2000, he was active in the DYFI and was elected Nashik district secretary and Maharashtra state joint secretary of the DYFI. From 2001, he began to work in the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). After working sincerely for over a decade, in 2013 he was elected as working president of the AIKS Nashik district committee and joint secretary of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha. In the AIKS national conference at Cuddalore in July 2013, he was elected to the AIKS National Council (AIKC). Hemant Waghere has worked in the party and the Kisan Sabha under the guidance of veteran leader Narendra Malusare and also K K Pawar and J P Gavit. Today the membership of the Nashik district Kisan Sabha is over 80,000 --- the highest in Maharashtra. In 2006, the 31st national conference of the AIKS was successfully held in Nashik. Among the thousands of AIKS activists from Maharashtra who collectively worked to make this conference a success, Hemant Waghere’s contribution was significant. Similarly, Surgana tehsil and its surrounding areas are one of the bastions of the CPI(M) not only in Nashik district but also in the whole of Maharashtra. For this achievement also, thousands of party activists have worked with dedication and Hemant Waghere is prominent among them. While leading the various struggles of the people on several issues, he has established a reputation as a politically mature and studious leader. He has taken several effective classes for party activists all over Nashik district. Hemant Waghere has always been in the forefront of all the struggles of the peasantry, agricultural workers, working class, middle class as well as adivasis, dalits and all other sections of the people. He has been in the leadership of several successful struggles launched by the CPI(M) and the AIKS in Nashik district on issues like the Forest Rights Act, doorstep ration scheme, old age pensions, load-shedding of power, education, employment, health, irrigation and so on.   D B NAIK HINGOLI D B NAIK alias Dhanusing Bhivsing Naik Pawar has been a dynamic, vigorous and loyal activist of the CPI(M) for the last ten years. He is a member of the CPI(M) district secretariat, member of the Maharashtra state council of AIKS and vice president of the Yavatmal district unit of Kisan Sabha. Naik was born on October 12, 1966 in Bhamb village of taluka Mahagaon, district Yavatmal. He completed his graduation in arts, followed by LLB. He was elected chairperson of the Mahagaon taluka panchayat samiti in 2007 and the party won this post in the Vidarbha region for the first time. Before that he was elected a gram panchayat sarpanch and a gram panchayat member. At present, he is an elected director of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Mahagaon. While working as the chairperson of the Mahagaon panchayat samiti, Naik made a record of asking more than 100 questions in the Zilla Parishad (ZP). He gave nightmares to the ZP officers when he unearthed the scam of nearly 18 to 20 lakh rupees in the 2008-09 annual budget of Yavatmal ZP. He took strong objections to the expenditure made by the ZP officials without taking the house into confidence. Naik worked as chairperson of the inquiry committee. He also worked as a chairperson of the inquiry committees constituted to enquire into the scams made in transfers of teachers, construction, and distribution of tarpaulins. As chairperson he also provided water and other basic amenities, Anganwadis and classrooms for the schools and bunds for the purpose of watershed development in Banjara and dalit habitations. In his Phulsavangi constituency, developmental works worth Rs seven crore and 35 lakh were done in his period of five years. He sat on fast in Yavatmal, along with the people from his constituency, to protest against the unwarranted use of public funds by the Congress representatives. He broke the fast only after getting approval of projects worth Rs 2.5 crore for the people. He protested against the system of getting work done through influence and contacts, and established a novel system of getting approvals on the basis of “first come first served.” His tenure as chairman was very fruitful and eventful. In 2005-06 a strong farmers’ movement was built in Mahagaon taluka under D B Naik’s leadership. As a result of this AIKS-led struggle, thousands of peasants from Mahagaon taluka succeeded in getting a crop loan of Rs 30 crore from the local banks. This was a major victory, especially because Yavatmal district has become notorious for the highest number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra. In 2004, when Lok Rajya, the organ of the Maharashtra government, published an article written about the nomadic Banjara tribe in a derogatory manner, D B Naik raised his voice immediately and made the whole state rise against the defamation of the tribe. The government was taken aback to see such a state-wide uprising and Sushilkumar Shinde, who was then the chief minister, called him to Nagpur and gave a public apology in his presence. The state accepted him as a dynamic leader of the Banjaras after this struggle. In the recent past, Naik led a successful struggle of over 4,000 farmers and agricultural workers --- for an uninterrupted 48 days from January 15 to March 3, 2014 --- on the issue of pension for the aged and the destitute. He is also known as an activist who consistently takes up the issues of compensation to farmers for crop loss due to hailstorms, excessive rains and attacks by animals which is a regular feature in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.