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Maharashtra polls: Nomination papers filed but jockeying for seats continues

By, Mumbai
Oct 30, 2024 09:17 AM IST

Maharashtra's election nominations closed, revealing intense competition between MVA and Mahayuti alliances, with potential changes before November 4

The deadline for the filing of nominations for the November 20 assembly elections in Maharashtra ended on Tuesday, with jockeying between the three main partners of each of the two rival alliances, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Mahayuti, continuing almost till the 5pm cut-off – and judging by the number of rebel candidates – even beyond.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with state party chief and candidate from Kamthi Assembly constituency, Chandrashekhar Bawankule during his nomination rally for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Nagpur on Tuesday. (ANI)
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with state party chief and candidate from Kamthi Assembly constituency, Chandrashekhar Bawankule during his nomination rally for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Nagpur on Tuesday. (ANI)

To be sure, there will likely be some changes till November 4, the deadline for withdrawal of nominations, as the three large parties in each alliance fine-tune their seat-sharing arrangements or accommodate smaller allies.

In the MVA, the Congress is now contesting 101 seats, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), 96, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), 87. Four seats are yet to be decided, while in six seats —Miraj, Sangola, Pandharpur, Paranda, Dharavi and Digras – two or more of the constituent parties have named candidates.

In the ruling Mahayuti, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 152 seats, the Shiv Sena 80, and the NCP 51. Five seats are yet to be decided, and in some seats two or more of the constituent parties have named candidates.

There is no clarity yet on how smaller allies will be accommodated. The BJP has agreed to give four of its 152 seats to junior allies, and the alliance is supporting the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s candidate in the constituency of Sewri in Mumbai. But in Mahim, where Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray is contesting, Sena has named its sitting MLA Sada Sarvankar against him. There is also trouble brewing in Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar, where the NCP’s Nawab Malik filed his papers on Tuesday despite public disapproval from ally BJP.

Read more: Three Cong leaders from Pune enter Maharashtra poll fray as Independent candidates

“There are issues related to 4-5 constituencies which will be sorted out in the next couple of days,” said deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. The smaller allies in the Mahayuti are Union minister Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (A), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Yuva Swabhiman Party and Jan Surajya Shakti.

The MVA, on the other hand, is still working out the final allocation to allies, the Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers’ Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

But with nearly 15% of the 288 sitting legislators not being renominated by their respective parties, there has been some heartburn, which has taken the form of so-called rebel candidates contesting as independents, though, this number too is likely to see a dip as the parties strike some sort of compromise with them.

Based on Tuesday evening’s numbers, 7,995 candidates will vie for 95.9 million votes that will decide the winners in 288 constituencies. The result will decide whether the performance of the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections in the state – it won 30 of 48 constituencies – was a flash in the pan, or an indication of things to come (and for the Mahayuti, the BJP-led NDA, whether its poor performance was merely a blip or a symptom of a larger malaise).

The result will decide who rules one of India’s richest and one of its most industrialised states, which houses the country’s commercial capital Mumbai. And the result will also decide which faction of the Shiv Sena and the NCP (never mind their names) earns the right to be called the original.

As the deadline for filing nominations ended, both alliances put up a brave face. “We have performed well in the two-and-half year stint. The state government attracted investments and rolled out welfare schemes that have been well-received by the people. Many infrastructure projects too were launched or completed in the last two-and-half years, I am sure that the people of Maharashtra will vote in our favour in this election,” said deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

On the other hand, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar targeted the BJP-led government for “overlooking” the agrarian community. The distress, he said, was evident in the “rising farm loans and ban on soybean export. We will show those who are against farmers their real place in this election.”

Farm distress, especially in western Vidarbha and Marathwada where the retreating monsoon washed out the Kharif crop, and caste-based reservations, especially the issue of Marathas vs Other Backward Classes will be some of the key issues in the election. Equally, the emotive issue of the split engineered in the Sena and the NCP in the last two years will be a decisive indicator of how the Marathi manoos (common man) is thinking. This will be crucial for Mumbai which heads into the all-important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls early next year. The two factions of the Sena have got the highest number of seats in the city in their respective alliance. Eknath Shinde’s party is contesting on 14 of Mumbai’s 36 seats and Uddhav Thackeray’s party is fielding candidates on 22 seats in Mumbai.

But despite the sabre-rattling from either side, analysts are already talking of an extremely tight contest. “The MVA alliance seems to have squandered the political capital it gained in the Lok Sabha election,” says political analyst and former Loksatta editor Prakash Bal. “Every election needs a narrative and the MVA has failed to create one this time as has the Mahayuti. The discourse is only about abusing one another. It won’t be surprising if Maharashtra ends up with a hung assembly,” he said.

The large number of political dynasties across party lines that are in play is also an indication of the concentration of power in the state in the hands of 30-odd families. In several instances such as the Bhujbal family, Ganesh Naik’s family, the Pawar family, Vidarbha’s Atram family or the Rane family, kith and kin are contesting across party lines, and are being described as family packs of Maharashtra politics.

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