Aaditya Thackeray, scion of the Thackeray family, on Thursday filed his nomination form from Worli for the state Assembly elections — the first member of the family to contest elections — as candidates rushed to file their papers.
As parties started releasing names of its remaining candidates for the October 21 elections, with Friday the last day to file nominations, the Congress announced the candidature of Ashish Deshmukh. Deshmukh quit as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator a year ago, and will now go up against chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Nagpur South West constituency.
Meanwhile, the BJP has kept the future of senior leader Eknath Khadse as well as ministers Vinod Tawde and Chandrashekhar Bawankule hanging, by not declaring their candidatures.
Also read: Aaditya Thackeray files nomination, declares assets worth Rs16.05 crore
Prominent among those who filed papers on Thursday inclu-ded state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil in Pune, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan (Congress) in Satara, rural development minister Pankaja Munde (BJP) as well as her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde in Beed.
Aaditya, 29, filed his nomination form in the presence of his father and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, mother Rashmi and several Sena and BJP leaders after taking out a grand padyatra. In his election affidavit, Aaditya declared total assets worth Rs16.05 crore.
{{/usCountry}}Aaditya, 29, filed his nomination form in the presence of his father and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, mother Rashmi and several Sena and BJP leaders after taking out a grand padyatra. In his election affidavit, Aaditya declared total assets worth Rs16.05 crore.
{{/usCountry}}The assets declared by him include agricultural land in Raigad, shops in Thane and Kalyan and a BMW car, besides investments and jewellery.
City BJP president Mangal Prabhat Lodha has turned out to be richest candidate to file nomination so far this election. He declared assets of Rs 441.65 crore, including the same owned by him and his family.
Meanwhile, there could be a question mark over the political career of Khadse as it seemed the party decided not to given him candidature from Muktainagar constituency in Jalgaon district. Khadse told the media that the party had decided not to re-nominate him. He has convened a meeting of his supporters on Friday to decide his next step.
Two BJP ministers Vinod Tawde and Chandrashekhar Bawankule also did not find their names in the third list of candidates released by the party.
Besides, senior BJP leaders in Mumbai, Prakash Mehta and Raj Purohit, are also yet to get candidature from the party for their constituencies in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the Congress released its list of 19 candidates late on Thursday. Ashish Deshmukh, son of former Maharashtra Congress president Ranjit Deshmukh, was originally in Congress, but had joined BJP ahead of the 2014 elections. He was elected as BJP MLA, but quit a year ago. He will now take on Fadnavis on the latter’s home turf.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Kankavli in Konkan, Nitesh Rane, joined the BJP on Thursday. Son of former chief minister Narayan Rane, Nitesh is expecting a BJP nomination from Kankavli.