The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced the candidacies of former state minister Pankaja Munde and four others for the upcoming biennial elections to the state legislative council. The Congress re-nominated MLC Pradnya Rajeev Satav.
The biennial elections, which will fill 11 seats in the Upper House of the legislature, are scheduled for July 12, with Tuesday being the last date for filing nominations. MLCs are elected by MLAs.
In addition to Ms. Munde, the BJP named former MLA Yogest Tilekar, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe, and Sadabhau Khot. Ms. Munde, a prominent OBC leader and the party’s national general secretary, was defeated in the 2019 Assembly polls. She fought the Lok Sabha polls from Beed and lost to Bajrang Sonawane of the Nationalist Congress Party (SP).
While Mr. Phuke, a native of Nagpur, is known for his close ties to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mr. Gorkhe, a BJP leader from Pimpri Chinchwad, is a member of the Matang community, a recognised backward class in the State. Mr. Tilekar is from Pune, and Khot is from Sangli in Western Maharashtra.
The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), an ally of the Congress, has declared support for Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil.
State assembly elections will follow soon after the MLC polls in October and November.
With 14 vacancies in the 288-member legislative assembly, the electoral college consists of 274 members. A candidate will require f 23 votes to win.
In terms of party strength, the BJP has 103, Ajit Pawar-led NCP 41 MLAs, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena 40, the Congress 37, Shiv Sena (UBT) 13, and NCP (SP) 15 legislators.
Meanwhile, in the State Assembly, Mr. Fadnavis said on Monday that a law to curb exam paper leaks would be enacted during the ongoing monsoon session. He was replying to a supplementary question during Question Hour on the issue of recruitment for government jobs.
Published - July 01, 2024 04:10 pm IST
