Parties go on overdrive, finalise list of candidates

They held back names of some candidates until the last moment for fear of rebellion but on Thursday, political parties went on an overdrive and announced the names of most of the remaining candidates. See graphic

They held back names of some candidates until the last moment for fear of rebellion but on Thursday, political parties went on an overdrive and announced the names of most of the remaining candidates.

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The day’s surprise was the announcement of former Shiv Sainik Sada Sarvankar’s candidature from Mahim on a Congress ticket. Sarvankar rebelled after the Sena decided to field Aadesh Bandekar, a Marathi actor, instead.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) named incumbent minister Nawab Malik as its candidate from Anushakti Nagar.

The NCP has also decided to give tickets to the spouses of two prominent politicians. MP Sanjay Patil’s wife, Pallavi, will contest from Vikhroli while Pappu Kalani’s wife Jyoti Kalani will contest from Ulhasnagar. Kalani was the MLA from Ulhasnagar.

Even late announcements, however, could not stem dissension.

The senior-most among them was from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Anna Joshi the three-time BJP MLA from Pune decided to contest from Pune’s Kothrud constituency from the NCP.

Meanwhile, Congress was still undecided on the candidatures of Amit, son of Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Praniti, daughter of Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The total nominations went up to 1,736 candidates, including 105 women, who today filed for the October 13 Assembly elections. The last day for filing nominations is Friday.