Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi has planned a mega event as its three candidates file their nominations for the Lok Sabha elections in Pune on Thursday. In a show of strength, top MVA leaders including Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar will attend a meeting before the three candidates, including Supriya Sule file their nominations. The alliance will also hold a roadshow in the city.
While Ms. Sule will file her nomination for the keenly watched Baramati seat, another NCP MP Amol Kolhe will file nomination for the Shirur seat and Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar will file nomination for the Pune seat.
According to reports, there will be a meeting of the MVA in front of Hotel Shantai at Rasta Peth in Pune. After the meeting, the three candidates will together proceed to file their nomination papers.
Apart from Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Pawar, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) state president Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat will also be present.
The election to all the four constituencies in Pune district will be held in two phases and the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on May 7. Polling will be held in Pune, Shirur and Maval Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13.
In Baramati, Ms. Sule’s main rival is her sister-in-law and Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar. She will also file her nomination on the same day. Mr. Kolhe is pitted against former Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, who is now contesting as the candidate of the Ajit Pawar faction. While in Maval, Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne is the sitting MP. He had defeated Ajit Pawar’s son Parth in 2019. This time, Shiv Sena UBT has fielded Sanjog Waghere against him.
In Pune Lok Sabha constituency, the main contest is between Congress’s Mr. Dhangekar and Muralidhar Mohol from Mahayuti. However, Congress has a tough road ahead as Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and AIMIM have also fielded their candidates. If the two parties manage to split Dalit and Muslim votes, it will hurt the chances of Mr. Dhangekar. In the 2019 elections which I contested, the VBA’s and the AIMIM’s candidates collectively polled only 65,000 votes.
“We were mulling to contest six to eight seats in Maharashtra. But now we have decided to concentrate on four seats. Anees Sundke will be the AIMIM candidate from Pune,” AIMIM leader Imtiyaz Jaleel said.
