Confusion persists in Maharashtra till end of nominations

Mumbai:Hectic parlays and deliberations continued till the final hours on the last day of filing of nominations, but the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) still struggled to come to consensus on the final seat sharing arrangement for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

There are few seats where the constituents of both the Mahayuti and MVA parties have fielded their candidates. The alliances will have to sort out the differences before November 9, the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations and the final picture will be clear then only, said political observers.

As far as the Mahayuti is concerned, the BJP has announced its candidates on 148 seats, followed by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (85) and the Ajit Pawar’s NCP (51). They have left four seats to their allies - Kalina (RPI), Badnera (Yuva Swabhimani Party), Shahuwadi (Jan Surajya party) and Gangakhed (RSP). In about four to five seats, two of the Mahayuti parties have announced their candidates.

In case of the MVA, the Congress has fielded candidates on 102 seats, whereas the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) has fielded candidates on 94 and 86 seats respectively. Its allies Peasants and Workers Party (6), Samajwadi Party (5) and the CPM (3) have also fielded candidates. The jostling for more seats is bigger in the MVA, as as many as 11 seats have seen candidates from two of MVA parties.

Triangular fights in Borivali, Bandra East, Andheri (East), Byculla and Dharavi assembly constituencies will be seen as many rebellion candidates including senior BJP leader Gopal Shetty filed their nominations on Tuesday. Another BJP leader Hasmukh Gehlot has announced to contest from Thane’s Owala Majiwada seat after the Mahayuti fielded Shiv Sena’s Pratap Sarnaik. Vijay Chaugale from the Shiv Sena has filed a nomination against BJP’s Ganesh Naik from Airoli constituency and Vijay Nahta has filed nomination against BJP candidate Manda Mhatre from Belapur seat.

The MVA, an alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), is also facing rebellion in Kolhapur North, Versova and Byculla seats.

Maharashtra BJP has roped senior BJP leaders including Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and Union minister Piyush Goyal to pacify Gopal Shetty. Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also called Mr. Shetty, but all the efforts have been proved futile. The disgruntled leader on Tuesday filed his nomination by showing his strength during a nomination procession to the election office. Mr. Shetty has been twice member of Lok Sabha and two terms MLA and three term corporator of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The party on Monday issued a fourth list, which contained Sanjay Upadhyay’s name for the Borivali seat. He also filed his nomination on Tuesday.

Mr. Shetty was hoping for a ticket to the Maharashtra Assembly polls from the BJP after being denied one in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.

The BJP leaders including Maharashtra election in-charges Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnav managed to pacify former MLA and Corporator Atul Shah, who had circulated a poster claiming he will contest from the Mumbadevi seat as an independent after Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena announced Shaina NC, who was BJP spokesperson, as its candidate from there.

Earlier in the day, Mr Shah said that he has been representing the Mumbadevi seat for many years and now, someone else is being given the ticket. “This is not a musical chair. This is an election,” he said.

Apart from this, Kunal Sarmalkar from the Shiv Sena filed his nomination against NCP candidate Zeeshan Siddique in Bandra east. Former police inspector and encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma’s wife Swikriti Sharma on Tuesday filed her nomination against Shiv Sena’s Murji Patel in Andheri east constituency as an independent candidate.

Disgruntled Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former corporator Raju Pednekar filed his nomination paper as an Independent in Versova where the Shiv Sena (UBT) has given candidature to Harun Khan.