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Maharashtra polls: Stage set for triangular fight in Kothrud as Sena (UBT) announces candidate
Shiv Sena (UBT) officially announced on Sunday Chandrakant Mokate’s candidacy for the Kothrud assembly seat
The Shiv Sena (UBT) officially announced on Sunday Chandrakant Mokate’s candidacy for the Kothrud assembly seat. With Mokate’s entry into the race, Kothrud is now poised for a triangular contest among three prominent candidates: Chandrakant Patil from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kishor Shinde representing the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), and Mokate from Sena (UBT).
Former MLA Mokate and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) house leader Prithviraj Sutar’s son Shashikant were among the prominent contenders from Sena (UBT) willing to contest from the Kothrud seat. On Sunday, Mokate was called to Mumbai by senior leaders and handed over AB forms.
Mokate said, “I have been nominated by the Shiv Sena as an official candidate of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from Kothrud. I assure you that I will remain committed to fulfilling their (party’s) trust.”
Mokate was the first MLA of the Kothrud assembly after the delimitation of assemblies in 2009. In 2019, sitting MLA Chandrakant Patil defeated Kishor Shinde of MNS by a margin of over 20,000 votes. At that time, MVA did not file any candidate against Patil and supported MNS’s candidate.
Kothrud is a bastion of BJP and the party has been winning it since past two decades with significant margin. However this year, in the seat-sharing formula Kothrud’s seat went with Shiv Sena (UBT) and Mokate is contesting election from MVA.
