BJP nominates 3 leaders for council by-polls; Sena, NCP to field 1 each

The five seats fell vacant after sitting members of the council were elected to the legislative assembly in the polls held in November 2024

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated three members for the legislative council by-election slated on March 27. It allies in the ruling Mahayuti coalition, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena, are expected to field one candidate each by Monday, the last day for filing nominations for five legislative council seats.

BJP nominates 3 leaders for council by-polls; Sena, NCP to field 1 each

The five seats fell vacant after sitting members of the council – BJP’s Gopichand Padalkar, Ramesh Karad and Pravin Datke, Shiv Sena’s Amashya Padvi and NCP’s Rajesh Vitekar – were elected to the legislative assembly in the polls held in November 2024.

On Sunday, the BJP’s central election committee announced the names of Sandeep Joshi, Sanjay Kenekar and Dadarao Keche as its candidates for the by-election. If elected, all three will have fourteen months in office in the upper house.

Joshi, who is believed to be a close confidante of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is a two-term mayor and four-term corporator from Nagpur. He was defeated by Abhijit Vanjari from the Congress in the legislative council polls held in December 2020, when he contested from the graduate constituency.

“I will try to take the ideology and mission of the party forward through this responsibility,” he said after being named as a candidate on Sunday.

Keche had filed his nomination for the assembly polls in November 2024 from Arvi an independent candidate after he was denied a ticket; though he was the sitting MLA, the BJP had fielded Sumeet Wankhede, Fadnavis’s personal assistant, from the constituency. He later withdrew the nomination after the party leadership assured him of rehabilitation in the legislative council.

After his name was announced by the BJP central leadership on Sunday, he said, “My aim would be to win all local body polls in the near future for the party in my constituency.”

Kenekar, former corporator in the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar municipal corporation, is the BJP’s OBC (Other Backward Classes) face. He was also head of the party’s labour cell for six years.

“Being nominated to the upper house is an honour for a small party worker like me,” he said.

The NCP, which is likely to nominate one member for the remaining five years of its term, is considering the names of former Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique, spokesperson Umesh Patil, and leaders Sanjay Daund and Anand Paranjape. Maratha leaders in the party are reportedly opposed to Siddique’s candidature.

Shiv Sena, which is also expected to nominate one member for the remaining three years of its term, is considering the names of former legislative council member Chandrakant Raghuvanshi, the party’s office secretary Sanjay More, and Kiran Pandav.

Neither the Sena nor the NCP are likely to announce the name of their candidate to avoid disgruntlement among leaders in the fray, said sources.

“We have held one round of discussions with Ajitdada Pawar and Prafulbhai Patel and another round of discussion is expected to be held tonight. Announcement of the name and filing of nomination will be done simultaneously on Monday morning,” said Sunil Tatkare, state unit chief of NCP.

The ruling coalition is expected to win all five seats unopposed as the opposition combine has no strength in the legislative assembly, whose members elect legislative council members.

“The minimum quota (for bagging a seat) is around 58 MLAs while our collective strength is around 50. There is no point in filing nomination even for one seat,” said a Congress leader.