49 Rebels Withdraw Their Nominations Ahead Of Maharashtra Polls, 24 From Ruling Mahayuti

From the Mahayuti camp, a total of 24 rebels took back their nominations, while in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, 21 rebels withdrew their nominations.

Nearly 8,000 candidates had filed their nominations for the assembly polls in Maharashtra.

Source : PTI

Ahead of the assembly polls in Maharashtra, a total of 49 rebels have withdrawn their nominations. Ten candidates each from the Congress and the BJP have withdrawn their nominations for the assembly polls.  

The withdawal of nominations shortly comes after the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) issued an ultimatum to the rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations, saying it was not in favour of "friendly fights". 

At least 50 rebel candidates had filed their nominations after being denied tickets by their respective parties. The deadline for withdrawal of nomination in Maharashtra was 3 pm on Monday (November 4). 

From the Mahayuti camp, which consists of the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, a total of 24 rebels took back their nominations. While 10 rebels from the BJP withdrew their nominations, there were 8 rebels from Shinde's Sena and 6 from Pawar's camp. 

In the Maha Vikas Aghadi, consisting of Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, 21 candidates withdrew their nominations. 

While 10 rebels from the Congress withdrew their nominations on Monday, 7 rebels from Shiv Sena (UBT) and 4 from NCP (SP) also took back their candidature.

Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction has withdrawn the nomination of its candidate Avinash Rane from Mumbai's Anushakti Nagar assembly seat, where Nawab Malik's daughter Sana Malik is also contesting from Ajit Pawar's NCP.

Former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma's wife Swikriti Sharma also withdrew her nomination as an independent candidate from Andheri East. The ruling Mahayuti has fielded former corporator and BJP leader Murji Patel from the seat on the Shiv Sena ticket. The ruling Mahayuti has decided that there should be only one candidate from the alliance.

Senior leader and former MP Gopal Shetty, who had filed nomination as an independent after the BJP denied ticket to him, also announced withdrawal of his candidature from the Borivali seat, where the BJP had nominated Sanjay Upadhyay.