Maharashtra Council polls 2016: BJP, Congress and NCP face rebellion ahead of November 19 elections

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Opposition NCP and Congress are facing rebellion in their ranks ahead of the November 19 biennial elections for half a dozen Maharashtra Legislative Council seats from local bodies.

Mumbai, Nov 4: Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Opposition NCP and Congress are facing rebellion in their ranks ahead of the November 19 biennial elections for half a dozen Maharashtra Legislative Council seats from local bodies. The Upper House members will be elected from six local governing bodies of Jalgaon, Yavatmal, Sangli-Satara, Pune, Nanded and Gondia-Bhandara. Elected representatives from these bodies will vote. In Jalgaon, the home turf of BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who resigned from the Cabinet in June after facing a string of allegations, sitting party MLC Gurmukh Das Jagwani has entered the fray as an Independent after being denied official ticket.
Jagwani, considered a close aide of Khadse, has been replaced with Chandu Patel, a local builder, as the BJP’s official candidate.
On the last day of filing papers (November 2), Jagwani submitted his nomination documents minus the AB Form (indicating a party’s official representation). The Returning Officer had asked Jagwani to submit the party’s AB Form today, which he failed to do so. A source in the EC office confirmed Jagwani is in the fray as an Independent.

The NCP has nominated former Minister Gulabrao Deokar, while the Congress has fielded Lata Chajjed. Other candidates to file nominations from Jalgaon include Sandip Chaudhari (Shiv Sena) and Nitin Barade (Khandesh Vikas). Sources in the BJP said Khadse has been directed to work for the victory of Patel. Sitting NCP MLC Prabhakar Gharge has rebelled and filed nomination papers as an Independent in Sangli-Satara, where the party’s official nominee is Shekhar Gore. Congress has fielded Mohanrao S Kadam, brother of former minister Patangrao Kadam.

Congress rebel Shekhar Mane has entered the fray as an Independent, while BJP has given ticket to Yuraj Bavdekar. In Nanded, sitting Congress MLC Amarnath Rajurkar and two Independents Gajanan Pawar and former bureaucrat Shyamsundar Shinde have submitted papers.

In Bhandara-Gondia, Praful Agarwal (Congress), sitting NCP MLC Rajendra Jain and Parinay Fuke (BJP) have entered the fray along with five Independent candidates. Tanaji Sawant (Shiv Sena), Shankar alias Shekhar Bade (Congress) and sitting MLC Sandeep Bajoriya have filed nomination papers in Yavatmal. Bajoriya, who was earlier with NCP, is contesting as an Independent.

In Pune, 10 candidates have submitted papers. These include sitting BJP Corporator Ashok Yenapure, Sanjay Jagtap (Congress), sitting NCP MLC Anil Bhosale, Dyaneshwar Khandagle (Shiv Sena) and NCP rebel Vilas Lande who is contesting as an Independent. Scrutiny of papers in all the seats was taken up today and the last date for withdrawal is November 5.