Congress nominee Vishwakeet Kadam's election from Palus Kadegaon Assembly seat in the bypoll scheduled later this month is a mere formality now as the main rival BJP has withdrawn from the race.
The bypoll, scheduled on May 28, was necessitated because of the death of sitting Congress MLA and former minister Patangrao Kadam.
The Congress has fielded his son Vishwajeet Kadam from the seat.
The BJP had earlier finalised the candidature of Sangramsing Deshmukh for the byelection to Palus-Kadegaon Assembly constituency in Maharashtra's Sangli's district.
Deshmukh is the president of Sangli Zilla Parishad and deputy chairman of Sangli District Cooperative Bank.
On the last day of withdrawl 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.
Vishwajeet Kadam, the son of Patangrao Kadam, is the only mainstream candidate now in fray for the byelection.
He 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.
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.
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