Shrikant Pangarkar, who was one of the suspects involved in the murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017, has won the election of the Jalna Municipal Corporation. He contested the election as an independent candidate from Ward 13, securing a win with a margin of 2,621 votes. The city of Jalna falls under the region of Marathwada.
His competition was from candidates of BJP and other political parties, while there was no candidate from the Shiv Sena, which was represented by Eknath Shinde. After winning, he celebrated his victory with his supporters.
Prior to the 2024 Assembly elections, he was a member of the Shiv Sena but was soon suspended due to public discontent. He was a municipal councillor from 2001 until 2006 and then joined the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti as he was not given a party ticket.
Gauri Lankesh was gunned down near her residence in Bengaluru on the 5th of September, 2017. Shrikant was named as one of the accused in the case in 2021 and was previously arrested by Maharashtra ATS in 2018 for the possession of explosives and weapons in a different case.
