Maha Yuti dominates as 9 Maharashtra legislative council candidates set to win unopposed

Mumbai: Nine candidates — eight from the ruling Maha Yuti and one from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi — are set to be elected unopposed to the Maharashtra Legislative Council, as the last date for filing nomination papers ended on Thursday.

Those set to return to the Upper House include Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve, a former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, and Shiv Sena’s Dr Neelam Gorhe, a former Deputy Chairperson of the House.

Danve is the lone MVA candidate in the polls, as the opposition alliance has the strength to secure only one seat, given the brute majority enjoyed by the BJP-led coalition.

Earlier in the day, the Congress decided not to field a candidate, respecting Uddhav Thackeray’s wishes, after Danve and Shiv Sena leaders — Lok Sabha member Anil Desai and MLCs Anil Parab  and Milind Narvekar— met state Congress President Harshavardhan Sapkal, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar and the party’s group leader in the Council, Satej Patil.

The Congress had earlier extended support to Shiv Sena (UBT) with the rider that the former Chief Minister should contest. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) has also backed Danve.

As for the Sunetra Pawar-led NCP, it has announced the candidature of Zeeshan Siddique, a former Congress MLA and son of former minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead more than a year ago, allegedly by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

The senior Siddique was a close associate of Ajit Pawar. Zeeshan is also a friend of Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar’s sons, Parth and Jay.

Besides Dr Gorhe, the second nominee from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is Bacchu Kadu, a four-time MLA from Achalpur and founder of the Prahar Janshakti Party, who joined the Shiv Sena.

The five BJP nominees are Sunil Karjatkar, Madhavi Naik, Sanjay Bhende, Vivek Kolhe and Pramod Jathar. Karjatkar is a veteran party worker and strategist who was once close to late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan. Kolhe is the son of former MLA Snehalata Kolhe.

Bhende handled Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari’s 2024 Lok Sabha campaign. Naik is a tribal leader from Thane, while Jathar is a former MLA from Sindhudurg.

In the by-election for one seat, the BJP has fielded former Congress MLC Dr Pradnya Satav, who is also set to be elected unopposed as the MVA has not fielded a candidate against her due to simple arithmetic.