Maha council polls: 12 candidates in fray after nomination of 2 rejected

The nomination papers of two independent candidates for the July 12 biennial elections to the Maharashtra legislative council were rejected on Wednesday during the scrutiny, which left 12 candidates in the fray for the 11 seats of the Upper House of the state legislature.

The two independent candidates whose nomination papers were rejected are Ajaysinh Motisinh Sengar and Arun Rohidas Jagtap. With this, there are now 12 candidates in the fray. If one of them does not withdraw nomination by July 5, the last date for doing so, elections to the legislative council from the MLA quota will take place on July 12. All candidates - nine of the ruling alliance Mahayuti and three of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.

 

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray. The Congress has renominated sitting legislator Pradyna Satav, while the NCP (SP) is supporting sitting MLC and Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) leader Jayant Patil. These three parties are constituents of the opposition MVA.

From the ruling side, the BJP has given tickets to former minister Pankaja Munde, Amit Gorkhe, Sadabhau Khot, Yogesh Tilekar and renominated Parinay Phuke. Chief Minister Shinde-led Shiv Sena has fielded former MPs Krupal Tumane and Bhavana Gawali - both of whom were denied tickets in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls. Tickets to Tumane and Gawali are being viewed as their political rehabilitation after they were not fielded in the Lok Sabha polls. With their nomination, the party has denied ticket to sitting MLC Manisha Kayande who switched over to the Shiv Sena from the Thackeray-led outfit in 2023. The NCP has fielded Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje.

The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the elections. The current strength of the assembly is 274 due to 14 vacancies. The quota for winning candidates is 23. The BJP has 103 members in the assembly, followed by the NCP (40) and the Shiv Sena (38). On the opposition side, the Congress has 37 MLAs, the Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP 10.