Mumbai: Filing of nominations for Phase 5 in Maharashtra will begin today (Friday), but the ruling MahaYuti is yet to declare its candidate on six seats and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on two. Forty days have passed since the Election Commission of India declared dates for the general election. Both MahaYuti and the MVA have agreed on the seat-sharing formula, but they are yet to declare candidates on some seats. Leaders of the Congress, which has been allotted North Mumbai and North Central Mumbai, have sent a list of candidates to the central Congress committee.
According to sources, Bhai Jagtap, Naseem Khan and Suresh Shetty are interested in North Central Mumbai. Jagtap and Kalu Budheliya, Congress district president, and Tejasvi Ghosalkar if say they are read to fight on Congress symbol from North Mumbai. However, Ghosalkar is not ready to join the Congress and the other two candidates are not strong enough to win the election.
Therefore, the Congress has held back the names. South Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Palghar, Dindori and Nashik are six seats where the MahaYuti is yet to declare their candidates yet. In south Mumbai, Yamini Jadhav MLA from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is keen to contest. BJP legislator and Vidhan Sabha speaker Rahul Narwekar and BJP Cabinet minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha have started their campaigns in south Mumbai In Thane, the Shinde-led Shiv sena is claiming the seat.
However, BJP is also not ready to leave its claim on the seat. Thane is a bastion of Shiv Sena and it is a prestige issue for Shinde. Sources are saying Shinde may leave South Mumbai seat to the BJP but not Thane seat. Shinde has selected names of Pratap Sarnaik, Ravindra Fatak and Naresh Mhaske for Thane.
Rajan Vichare contesting election from UBT Shiv Sena
Current two-time MP Rajan Vichare is contesting election from UBT Shiv Sena. In the North West constituency, Shiv Sena (UBT) has declared Amol Kirtikar as candidate but Shinde is not getting a proper candidate from that area. Ravindra Vaykar is keen on the seat and he had a meeting with Shinde recently, but MNS party leader Shalini Thackeray has opposed Vaykar’s name.
Therefore, Shinde has not taken any decision on this seat despite current MP Gajanan Kirtikar being ready to campaign against his son. In the North Central seat, the BJP is not ready to give ticket to Poonam Mahajan, the two-time MP from the region because of her poor performance.
Therefore, the BJP is searching for a strong candidate from that constituency. BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar is not ready to contest Lok Sabha election therefore, There are talks on the name of Ujwal Nikam from that seat. Shiv Sena and NCP are both claiming the Nashik seat. Two-time MP Hemant Godse and Nashik district Shiv Sena president Ajay Boraste are also keen to contest the election.
