Battlelines are drawn for the crucial elections to six seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council even as the political parties adopt a mode of course correction and reward loyalists ahead of the mega civic polls in 2022.
Two seats of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation and one each from local authorities constituencies of Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar, Akola-Buldhana-Washim and Nagpur are going for polls.
The retiring members are Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena) and Bhai Jagtap (Congress) represent Mumbai, while Satej Patil (Congress) has been elected from Kolhapur, Amrish Patel (BJP) from Dhule-Nandurbar, Gopikishan Bajoria (Shiv Sena) from Akola-Buldhana-Washim and Girish Vyas (BJP) from Nagpur.
Already there have been some surprises before the actual elections take place vis-a-vis Mumbai, where the 227-member BMC comprises the electoral college.
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray dropped Kadam for his alleged viral clips in which he had given information related to Transport Minister Anil Parab to BJP leader Dr Kirit Somaiya.
Besides, Jagtap, the President of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, decided to stay away, given the numbers of the party in the BMC.
In Mumbai, Shiv Sena has fielded Sunil Kadam, who did not contest the Assembly polls in 2019, in favour of Yuva Sena President Aaditya Thackeray, who is currently the Tourism, Environment and Protocol Minister.
On the other hand, the BJP fielded Rajhans Singh, a veteran North Indian leader, a strategic move ahead of BMC polls.
Both Kadam and Singh are expected to win the elections.
In Nagpur, the BJP replaced Vyas with Chandrashekar Bawankule, an OBC, who was denied a ticket during the Assembly polls, who is considered close to Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. Bawankule was the Energy Minister in the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-government. The Congress has fielded Dr Ravindra Bhoyar, a former RSS activist and BJP Corporator, who was brought in with the efforts of State Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut.
In Kolhapur, the Congress has renominated Minister of State for Home Satej Patel, who would contest against Amal Mahadik of BJP and former MLA.
In Dhule-Nandurbar, the BJP has renominated Amrish Patel and the veteran would take on Gaurav Wani of the Congress.
In Akola-Buldhana-Washim, the Shiv Sena has renominated Gopikishan Bajoria and he would take on Vasant Khandelwal of BJP.
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