Congress nominee Vishwajeet Kadam's election from Palus Kadegaon Assembly seat in the bypoll scheduled for May 28 became a formality today after all the other candidates in the fray withdrew their nominations.
Vijay Deshmukh, subdivisional officer, Sangli district, who is also the Returning Officer for the bypoll, confirmed the development.
"All the candidates, including BJPs Sangramsinh Deshmukh, today withdrew their nominations. Now the Congress' Vishwajeet Kadam is the only candidate in the fray," he said.
The official added that an announcement of Kadam being elected from the constituency would be taken after consulting authorities.
"It is just a technical matter now," he said.
The winner of the bypoll will hold the office for just over a year, as the term of the current Assembly ends in October 2019.
The bypoll, scheduled on May 28, was necessitated because of the death of sitting Congress MLA and former minister Patangrao Kadam.
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The BJP had earlier finalised the candidature of Sangramsinh Deshmukh, president of Sangli Zilla Parishad and deputy chairman of Sangli District Cooperative Bank, for the bypoll.
On the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers today, state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters at Kadepur taluka in Sangli that the BJP will not contest the bypoll.
The Shiv Sena had last week announced its support for the Congress nominee.
The Congress' Kadam had unsuccessfully contested from the Pune Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 elections.
He inherits a strong legacy from his father in the form of control over a Sangli-based cooperative sugar mill, several dairies, educational institutes and cooperative societies in the western Maharashtra district.
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