Mumbai, Oct 9 (IANS) Unrest and internal dissent have rocked both the ruling MahaYuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections.
The refusal of several rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations on the final day of withdrawal has created complex multi-cornered contests, posing a challenge to official party candidates across key Graduate and Teacher constituencies.
Voting for the five biennial Legislative Council seats, comprising three Graduate and two Teacher constituencies, is scheduled for October 23.
Friday marked the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
While partial consensus was reached in Pune, rebellion continues in Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Amravati.
In the Pune Graduate and Teacher constituencies, last-minute withdrawals offered significant relief to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s official candidates.
In the Pune Graduate Constituency, Pratap alias Bhaiyya Mane of the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) withdrew his nomination following high-level coalition talks.
The move benefits the BJP’s official nominee, Smita Jadhav, who is contesting against NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) nominee Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav.
In the Pune Teacher Constituency, Mangesh Chivate of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) withdrew his nomination, providing a boost to the BJP’s official candidate, Kaustubh Gawade.
Additionally, Ashwini Nikam of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) withdrew her nomination.
However, complete unity remains elusive, as Sachin Sanap, former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Industries Minister Uday Samant, refused to withdraw and remains in the fray as an independent candidate.
The Nagpur Graduate seat has emerged as a challenge for the BJP after party veteran and former MLA Anil Sole entered the contest as an independent candidate against the party’s official nominee, Sudhakar Kohale.
The decision not to nominate Sole exposed differences within local party ranks.
In a significant development, former MLA Girish Vyas resigned from all party posts and announced support for Sole’s candidature.
Meanwhile, the opposition MVA is also facing internal friction in Nagpur, where Nilesh Karale of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) is contesting as an independent candidate against the official Congress nominee, Abhijit Wanjari.
Differences within the MVA are also visible in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduate constituency.
NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) candidate Pratapsingh Patil and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) candidate Dilip Ghuge have entered the contest against Satish Chavan, the candidate of the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).
On the Mahayuti side, BJP’s M.K. Deshmukh withdrew his nomination following intervention by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In the Amravati Teacher Constituency, the ruling Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) faces a challenge from within.
Party leader and former legislator Shrikant Deshpande has refused to withdraw, setting up a contest against the party’s official candidate, Kiran Sarnaik.
The opposition alliance is also divided, with the Congress fielding Aditi Pohare while Shiv Sena (UBT) has nominated Dattatraya Lahane.
With multiple official and rebel candidates remaining in the race, vote division is expected to make the contests in several constituencies highly competitive.
–IANS
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