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November 4 is the last day for withdrawing nominations for the Maharashtra assembly polls, scheduled to be held on November 20. The results of the assembly elections will be declared on November 23.
The ruling Mahayuti (above) and opposition MVA (lower) (Photo: PTI)
Major political parties in Maharashtra are facing rebellion in their ranks as party workers denied tickets have defied their leaderships and filed nominations for the November 20 assembly polls, posing a headache for both the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The confusion is partly because some parties have opted to give nomination forms to two candidates from the same constituency and partly because of multiple rebel candidates filing nominations after being denied tickets by their respective parties, an analysis by CNN-News18 showed.
According to reports, nearly 36 candidates from the Mahayuti and 26 candidates from the MVA have turned rebels. The candidates have filed nominations against each other and have created friendly contests among the allies in many constituencies.
As November 4 (today) marks the last date to withdraw nominations for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, the stage is set for a clearer picture of the number of rebels left in the fray.
The MVA comprises the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) of Sharad Pawar, while the Mahayuti consists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Polling for assembly elections in Maharashtra is scheduled to be held on November 20, and the results will be declared on November 23.
WHO ALL HAVE WITHDRAWN NOMINATIONS
According to sources, the total nominations filed are 10,900, out of which, 1,654 have been declared invalid. So far, 983 withdrawals have been made, and a total of 8,272 candidates are in the fray for 288 seats.
Among the many who have withdrawn their nominations, the most recent ones are listed below.
- BJP’s Gopal Shetty has withdrawn his independent candidature. He had filed as an independent candidate from Borivali after he was denied a ticket and the BJP had announced Sanjay Upadhyay as its candidate for the seat.
- BJP rebel Vishwajit Gaikwad on November 3 said he has decided to withdraw his nomination as an independent candidate from the Udgir assembly seat, where the Mahayuti has fielded NCP’s Sanjay Bansode.
- Rebel Congress leader from Kasba assembly constituency, Mukhtar Shaikh, who had filed nomination as an independent candidate, has decided to withdraw his nomination and support official MVA candidate Ravindra Dhangekar.
- Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange, who had previously announced to enter the poll fray, has declared that he would not contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections and asked his candidates to withdraw nominations.
- Swikruti Sharma, the wife of cop Pradeep Sharma, has announced that she is withdrawing her nomination. Sharma had joined the Shinde Sena recently and had filed her nomination from the Andheri (east) seat as an independent candidate.
PARTIES TRYING TO PERSUADE REBELS TO OPT OUT
On October 31, leaders of all major parties in Maharashtra tried to persuade rebels to opt out of the assembly poll fray in a bid to ensure vote splits don’t end up in defeat.
These leaders held meetings with colleagues and allies to get the winning combination right for the November 20 polls.
The same day, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met his counterpart and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s residence in south Mumbai to discuss the withdrawal of nominations.
Pawar later met independent candidate Nana Kate from the Chinchwad assembly seat in Pune district to prevail upon him to opt out of the poll fray. Kate, however, remained adamant about contesting.
The NCP, the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena comprise the ruling alliance, also called the Mahayuti.
Fadnavis, on his part, held meetings with party colleagues and also contacted some rebels.
Chief Minister Shinde held a meeting with his colleagues at his residence in Thane to discuss the possible impact of rebels on the results and the way forward.
The MVA, comprising Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), also held similar discussions.
Pawar and his party’s state unit chief Jayant Patil are in touch with rebels to get them to opt out.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and his colleagues Vijay Wadettiwar and Balasaheb Thorat also reviewed the political situation and asked rebels to withdraw nominations for the sake of the party.
The exercise by the Shiv Sena (UBT) to get rebels to withdraw was spearheaded by senior leaders Anil Desai, Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Parab, among others.
MANOJ JARANGE CANDIDATES WON’T CONTEST POLLS
A day after Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange said he would support two candidates from Parvati and Daund in the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra, he on Monday said his candidates won’t contest the Maharashtra election.
Addressing a press conference, the activist today appealed to all of his candidates to withdraw their nominations.
Jarange had earlier announced he would support candidates in Phulambri, Kannad (in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Hingoli, Pathari (in Parbhani) and Hadgaon (in Nanded).
