Assembly elections: Bigwigs file nominations in Pune amid rebellions, protests

From the eight constituencies in Pune city, 64 candidates filed nominations on Thursday, while in Pune district, which has 21 seats, 152 nominations have been filed

On the penultimate day of filing nominations, rebels and prominent candidates dominated the political scene. Chandrakant Patil, Mukta Tilak, Jagdish Mulik, Arvind Shinde, and Sanjay Bhosale, among others, were among the key leaders who filed nominations on Thursday for the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The last day for filing nominations is Friday.

Chandrakant Patil, accompanied by MP Girish Bapat and MLA Medha Kulkarni, took out a massive rally at Shivaji chowk before filing his nomination papers on Thursday. (Sanket Wankhade/HT PHOTO)

While some rebels relented to the pressure, others went ahead with dissidence. Some rebels even came forward with supporters and held massive rallies prior to filing their nomination papers.

All eight candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including, Chandrakant Patil filed their nominations, while, Congress’ three nominees filed their nominations on Thursday.

Patil, Maharashtra BJP chief, filed his nomination from Pune’s Kothrud constituency. He was accompanied by party’s Pune MP Girish Bapat and sitting Kothrud MLA Medha Kulkarni.

“I am confident that the voters in Kothrud will back my candidature,” said Patil after filing his nomination.

Besides Patil, others in the BJP who filed their nominations, include city unit chief and sitting MLA Madhuri Misal from Parvati, mayor Mukta Tilak from Kasba peth, MLA Bhimrao Tapkir from Khadakwasla, Yogesh Tilekar from Hadapsar, Jagdish Mulik from Wadgaonsheri, Sunil Kamble from Pune Cantonment and Siddharth Shirole from Shivajinagar.

From the Congress, city unit president Ramesh Bagwe, Arvind Shinde and Dattatrey Bahirat filed nominations from Pune Cantonment, Kasba peth and Shivajinagar constituencies respectively.

From the eight constituencies in Pune city, 64 candidates filed nominations in one day, while in the Pune district, which has 21 seats,152 nominations have been filed on Thursday.

Despite huge rallies, in focus were the rebels from Shiv Sena and other parties.

After the Shiv Sena did not get a single seat in Pune, Sena leader Ramesh Konde filed his nomination as an independent from Khadakwasla. Vishal Dhanwade filed his nomination from Kasba peth, while Sanjay Bhosale filed his nomination from Wadgaonsheri constituency.

According to political observers, it will be a tough fight for the BJP. Konde is one of the contestants in a multi-corner fight involving BJP’s Bhimrao Tapkir and NCP’s Sachin Dodke in Khadakwasla. In Kasba peth, Dhanwade is locked in a fight against BJP’s Mukta Tilak, while in Wadgaonsheri Bhosale plans to contest against sitting MLA Jagdish Mulik.

The other two Sena leaders from Kothrud - Shashikant Sutar and Chandrakant Mokate – however, gave up their fight against the BJP and have decided to support Chandrakant Patil.

“Most Sena leaders, who rebelled on Thursday, are unhappy that the party has not received even a single seat in the city. Most leaders even questioned the alliance with the BJP. Now, most leaders have decided to support BJP leaders. We will ensure Patil’s victory in Kothrud and will support him,” said Mokate.

Congress leaders Ravi Dhangekar and Aba Bagul will file their nomination on Friday from Kasba peth and Parvati constituencies respectively.