A kitchen staple, onion, has turned out to be a political game-changer in the onion growing regions of Maharashtra. In the 12 parliamentary constituencies of Maharashtra where onion growers and traders are concentrated, the NDA won 4 seats in 2024, a decrease of 8 seats over 2019. The INDIA bloc won 8 seats, an increase of 8 seats compared with 2019.
In these seats, the NDA secured a vote share of 39.3% in 2024, a fall of 27.3 percentage points compared to 2019. The INDIA bloc secured a 50% vote share, an increase of 26.9%.
According to onion growing farmers this swing was due to a series of flip-flops in the Centre’s export policy on onions that have left onion farmers and traders in Maharashtra disgruntled since August 2023. Onion farmers and traders — especially in Nashik, which exports around 90% of the onions that originate from India — have been up in arms for many months now and have expressed their disapproval by suspending onion auctions and going on strike.
The NDA’s blunders
On January 11 and 12 in Nashik town and on May 15 in Pimpalgaon Baswant, 30km from Nashik town, farmers were detained and served notices ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s road show and public gathering as were planning to stage a protest against the poor and unstructured decisions taken by the Central government on export prices over the last year.
There are 3.5 lakh onion producing farmers registered with the Maharashtra Rajya Kanda Utpadak Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra State Onion Producers Association). Bharat Dighole, president of the association, said, “The central government imposed a ban on onion exports and brought down the prices of onions. Besides, the price of essentials like milk, soybeans, and cotton, has climbed. Due to the direct financial loss, there has been a wave of anger among farmers against the central government. Since the Modi government took many anti-farmer decisions, including the ban on onion exports, we have been warning the government that farmers would reply through the ballot in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra.”
Onion growers feel that the issue of onion prices was taken very lightly by the ruling alliance. “To farmers, the politics of hate do not work. We are focused on the economy rather than baseless religion-based politics that divide people,” said Mr. Dighole.
On August 19, 2023, the Union government imposed a 40% duty on the export of onions. On October 28, 2023, a new decision was made instead, requiring the exporter to pay the government $800 per ton instead. After that, on December 7, 2023, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) passed an order declaring that the onion export policy would be amended to make it free from prohibition until March 31, 2024.
“However, by March, the election code of conduct was announced, and the DGFT released another statement saying that the export ban would continue until further notice. On May 4, 2024, the ban was lifted, conditionally. The exporter must now pay $550 per metric ton to the government,” he said.
Maharashtra supplies onions to more than 50 countries. “It has been over 10 months, and our issues are unresolved. Our votes will perhaps make the message clear to the central government and probably cause a few tears too,” Mr. Dighole said.
Shift in voting patterns
The 2024 Lok Sabha results saw a significant shift in voting patterns. In Dindori, BJP Union Minister Bharati Pravin Pawar, who won in 2019, lost by over 113,000 votes to NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar’s Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagre. In Nashik, the Shiv Sena’s Hemant Godse, who won in 2019, was defeated by over 162,000 votes by the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate. The NDA is also disappearing in other onion growing constituencies: Dhule, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Baramati, Beed, Latur, Maval, Shirur, Solapur, Shirdi, and Osmanabad. BJP leader Pankaja Munde lost her family bastion of Beed to NCP-SP candidate Bajrang Sonwane by 6,553 votes.
