Mumbai, June 5: The political landscape in Maharashtra intensified on the final day for withdrawal of nominations for 17 seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) local authority constituencies. The ruling Mahayuti alliance secured unopposed victories in five seats, while the remaining 12 seats will witness direct electoral contests.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) attempted to challenge the Mahayuti on several seats. However, due to a lack of numbers and insufficient support from allied parties, many of their candidates withdrew their nominations. Meanwhile, the Mahayuti leadership successfully persuaded most of their rebel candidates to stay in the race.
Among the candidates elected unopposed are Arun Lakhani (BJP) from Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Vikram Kakade (NCP-Ajit Pawar) from Pune, Ravindra Phatak (Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde) from Thane, Aniket Tatkare (NCP-Ajit Pawar) from Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and Dushyant Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-Shinde) from Yavatmal.
A political drama unfolded in the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat when Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Bal Mane went to the district collector’s office with Mahayuti government minister Nitesh Rane and withdrew his nomination. Following this, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut expelled Bal Mane from the party for anti-party activities, clearing the path for Aniket Tatkare’s unopposed victory.
In Pune, Vikram Kakade was elected unopposed after NCP’s Sunil Tingre, rebel BJP candidate Pradeep Kand, and MVA-supported candidate Shrikant Patil withdrew their nominations.
In Thane, Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Ravindra Phatak was elected unopposed following the withdrawal of MVA candidate Abhijit Pawar. Similarly, in Yavatmal, Dushyant Chaturvedi won without contest after Congress candidate Sahebarav Kamble and later MVA-supported Syed Farooq withdrew.
In Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, BJP’s Arun Lakhani emerged victorious unopposed after Congress candidate Shailesh Kumar Agrawal and independent Sudhir Kothari withdrew.
Now, the 12 seats that will go to elections promise interesting contests. In Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar), BJP’s Prajakta Tanpure will face independent Dattatreya Pansare. In Nashik, incumbent member Narendra Darade will be challenged by rebel candidate Gokul Geete.
In Sangli-Satara, BJP’s Dhairyashil Kadam will compete against Abhay Singh Jagtap of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). The Nagpur by-election will see Mahayuti’s Rajiv Potdar pitted against MVA’s Atul Londhe.
In Solapur, BJP’s Rajendra Raut will face NCP’s Vasant Rao Deshmukh, while in Nanded, Congress’s Ramdas Patil and BJP’s Amar Rajurkar will contest directly.
Amravati will witness a triangular contest among BJP’s Praveen Pote Patil, Congress’s Harshjeet Deshmukh, and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Nilesh Vishwakarma.
In Parbhani-Hingoli, Shiv Sena (Shinde)’s Sayed Khan, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Vivek Navandar, and independent Sushil Deshmukh are in the fray. In Dhule-Latur-Beed, BJP’s Basavaraj Patil will battle Congress’s Mahesh Deshmukh.
In Jalgaon, a triangular contest is expected among BJP’s Nandkishor Mahajan, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sharad Tayde, and Shiv Sena (Shinde)’s Reshma Kale. Meanwhile, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna, BJP’s Suhas Sirsat will face Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ganesh Lokhande.
The unopposed victories for the Mahayuti in five seats are seen as a morale booster, while the upcoming voting for the remaining 12 seats will signal the changing political dynamics in Maharashtra.
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