The elections for 10 vacancies to the Maharashtra Legislative Council is heading for a nail-biting finish with a dozen candidates in fray—six from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, and another six from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies.
There are several fresh faces in the race, yet nominations for the seats have created resentment across the four major political parties of the state.
The BJP has fielded five candidates: Pravin Darekar and Prasad Lad—both have been re-nominated—along with fresh names of Prof Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya and Uma Khapre.
Prof Shinde is a former water conservation minister, while Khapre is the president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha Maharashtra. Bharatiya was an officer on special duty to former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Now, apart from the fifth candidate, the BJP has also backed the candidature of Sadabhau Khot, leader of Rayat Krantikari Sanghatana who filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate.
The MVA alliance—of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian National Congress—has six candidates, two by each allied member.
The Shiv Sena has fielded Sachin Ahir, from Mumbai, and Amasha Padvi, a tribal leader from Nandurbar.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP re-nominated the Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and nominated north Maharashtra politician Eknath Khadse.
The Congress re-nominated Bhai Jagtap, who is the president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee and named Chandrakant Handore, a former Mumbai mayor and former MLA.
Published 09 June 2022, 17:36 IST