The stage is all set for a poll battle for Pandharpur assembly constituency in Solapur after both the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared names of their candidates on Monday. While NCP declared Bhagirath Bhalke as its candidate, BJP decided to field Samadhan Autade.
The by-election for the seat will be held on April 17. It had fallen vacant following the death of sitting NCP MLA Bharat Bhalke in November last year. The NCP has fielded Bhagirath, Bhalke’s son and a three-time MLA. He had defeated BJP’s Sudhakar Parichak by 13,361 votes in 2019 assembly polls. Both Bhalke and Paricharak died of Covid-19 last year. Bhalke was undergoing treatment post Covid complications and died in Pune on November 28, 2020.
Autade fought as a Shiv Sena candidate in 2014 and as an independent in 2019 assembly polls. He was picked by the saffron party over their sitting MLC Prashant Paricharak’s insistence for the candidature for his nephew Pranay. Paricharaks have a stronghold as Sudharkar Paricharak, Prashant’s uncle, represented the constituency for five terms between 1985 and 2009.
Autade, who is in the construction and cooperative sector, had polled 54,124 votes as an independent in the 2019 election and 40,910 votes in 2014 as a Shiv Sena candidate. He was reportedly in touch with the NCP too for the candidature. He will have to face dismay within the party as the aspirant from Paricharak family has been denied the ticket by the party leadership. Besides, his close rival and NCP candidate Bhagirath Bhalke may enjoy sympathy owing to the demise of his father which may go against Autade.
{{/usCountry}}Autade, who is in the construction and cooperative sector, had polled 54,124 votes as an independent in the 2019 election and 40,910 votes in 2014 as a Shiv Sena candidate. He was reportedly in touch with the NCP too for the candidature. He will have to face dismay within the party as the aspirant from Paricharak family has been denied the ticket by the party leadership. Besides, his close rival and NCP candidate Bhagirath Bhalke may enjoy sympathy owing to the demise of his father which may go against Autade.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s local leader Shaila Godse too has filed her nomination as an independent candidate posing a challenge for the NCP candidate. Godse had sought a ticket from her party in 2019, but the seat went to BJP in a seat-sharing pact between the BJP and Sena.
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