Shiv Sena, NCP Field Candidates For Maharashtra Council Bypoll, No Oppn Candidate In Fray

The Shiv Sena and NCP have declared one candidate each for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council bypolls.

Shiv Sena and NCP have fielded one candidate each for the bypolls to Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Source : PTI

Mumbai, Mar 17 (PTI) The Shiv Sena and the NCP, partners in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, on Monday announced one candidate each for the March 27 bypolls to five seats in the Maharashtra legislative council.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared candidates for three seats on Sunday.

The Shiv Sena has nominated Chandrakant Raghuvanshi, a prominent party worker from Nandurbar district, while the NCP has fielded Sanjay Khodke, whose wife won the 2024 state assembly election.

The BJP earlier announced the candidature of Sandeep Joshi, former mayor of Nagpur and a close aide of Fadnavis, Sanjay Kenekar, state BJP general secretary and former MLA Dadarao Keche.

The by-elections for these five seats are likely to be uncontested.

Five seats became vacant in the legislative council after sitting members won the assembly elections last year.

Shiv Sena's Amasha Padavi, Rajesh Witekar of the NCP, and BJP's Pravin Datke, Gopichand Padalkar, and Ramesh Karad were the outgoing members who won the assembly elections.

Monday is the last day to file nominations for the March 27 by-elections. The nominations will be scrutinised on Tuesday, and candidates can withdraw from the fray by March 20.

If no more than five candidates file nominations, the election will be uncontested.

The state legislative council has 78 members. Unlike the assembly, the council is not dissolved every five years, and members serve a six-year term.

Of the 78 members, 30 are elected by the legislative assembly, 22 by local governing bodies, seven by teachers, and seven by graduates.

Additionally, the governor nominates 12 members from the fields of literature, arts, cooperatives, and social service.

Post the 2024 assembly elections, the council had 52 members. The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP has 32 members, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has 17.

The BJP has 19 MLCs, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has six, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP has seven. In the MVA camp, Congress has seven members, NCP (SP) has three, and Shiv Sena (UBT) has seven. There are also three independent members.

Opposition parties have not fielded any candidates. The MVA lacks sufficient numbers in the state assembly to secure a seat, and hence, they have refrained from contesting the election. PTI ND ARU

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