A
Water security
A permanent supply for a city of nearly three lakh people, planned from the Krishna at Juné–Danwad against demand projected to 2051.
15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly / 2024–2029
Rahul
Awade
Public service. Responsible representation.
A commitment to Ichalkaranji.
Rahul Prakash Awade represents the Ichalkaranji Assembly Constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Elected in November 2024, he speaks in the House for a city India knows as the Manchester of Maharashtra — and for the villages, looms and livelihoods that surround it.
- Constituency
- Ichalkaranji · No. 279
- District
- Kolhapur, Maharashtra
- In office since
- 23 November 2024
- Lok Sabha segment
- Hatkanangle
01 Introduction
A constituency is not an abstraction. It is a water line, a municipal ledger, a courthouse that has waited years for a building, and a hundred thousand looms that have to keep running on Monday morning.
Ichalkaranji is one of the most densely industrial urban constituencies in western Maharashtra. It became a municipal corporation only in 2022, and its first corporation council was elected in January 2026 — which means much of its civic machinery is still being built while the city runs at full capacity.
That is the working context of this term. The measures recorded on this website are published with their dates, their present status and their public sources, so that the difference between what has been announced, what has been approved and what is complete stays visible.
02 The mandate
The 2024 result
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, Ichalkaranji constituency, counted on 23 November 2024.
1,31,919Votes polled in his favour
60.68%Share of votes cast
56,811Margin of victory
69.97%Turnout in the constituency
Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
Runner-up
Madan Sitaram KarandeNationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) — 75,108 votes, 34.55%
Assembly
15th AssemblyTerm 2024–2029. Sworn in on 23 November 2024.
Figures as published for the Ichalkaranji Assembly constituency, 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. Membership record: PRS Legislative Research, MLA Track.
03 About Rahul Awade
A public life built in the constituency he now represents
Born on 22 September 1978, Rahul Awade took a B.Com from Shivaji University, Kolhapur in 2011 and an MBA from NIMS University, Jaipur in 2014. His election affidavit records his profession as agriculture and business, and declares no criminal cases.
He served as a member of the Kolhapur Zilla Parishad before contesting the Assembly. He is the son of Prakashanna Awade, who represented Ichalkaranji in the Assembly across five terms, and the grandson of Kallappa Awade, elected from the same constituency in 1980.
In June 2026 he was re-elected unopposed to the Governing Council of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture — a second term in that body.
04 The constituency
Ichalkaranji
A textile city in Kolhapur district, on the Panchganga, long called the Manchester of Maharashtra.
Population
2,87,5702011 Census — the 151st most populous city in India
Power looms
~1.25 lakhRecorded for the city as of December 2018
Civic status
Municipal CorporationCouncil founded 1904; upgraded to a corporation in 2022
Elevation
538 mPanchganga valley, about 29 km east of Kolhapur
Public engagement
The work of a legislator is mostly ordinary and mostly local — files, follow-ups and the patience to keep asking until an approval arrives.
05 Record of work
Measures on the public record
Only measures that can be traced to a dated public source are listed, each carried with its present status.
-
01
Krishna river water supply scheme for Ichalkaranji
Announced by the Chief Minister at a public rally; the scheme is planned against the city’s projected water need to 2051.
-
02
GST reimbursement released to the Municipal Corporation
₹20.16 crore cleared for April and May, with ₹10.8 crore a month reported thereafter.
-
03
Land transfer for the Ichalkaranji judicial complex
Administrative approval of ₹15.33 crore to transfer the reserved plots for the court complex.
-
04
First general election to the Ichalkaranji Municipal Corporation
Counting held on 16 January 2026. The BJP was reported as the single largest party with 43 seats.
06 Working agenda
Four areas where the constituency’s public business currently sits
B
Municipal finance & urban governance
A corporation created in 2022, an elected council seated in 2026, and the reimbursement stream that funds its pending works.
C
Public services & justice infrastructure
Land cleared for a judicial complex, so that litigants from Ichalkaranji and the surrounding taluka are heard closer to home.
D
Industry, trade & textiles
Representation for a power-loom economy through the Assembly and the Governing Council of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.
07 News & updates
Water
Chief Minister announces a Krishna river water supply scheme for Ichalkaranji
At a farmers’ rally on 21 June 2026, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the Juné–Danwad Krishna river scheme for the city. Rahul Awade, with the Hatkanangle MP, had placed the proposal before the state in Mumbai and met the Chief Minister two days earlier.
08 Contact
Website enquiries
For questions about this website, its content or its images, please use the contact below.
- Contact person
- Mr. Digant Sharma
- Phone
- +91 97699 99960
- im@digantsharma.com