Elections to five seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council will be held on Friday, and the results are slated to be announced on October 27. Of these five seats, one electoral battle will be particularly important - the Nagpur Graduates’ constituency.
The BJP and its predecessor, the Jana Sangh, had held the Nagpur Graduates’ constituency for nearly 58 years until 2020, when the Congress’ Abhijit Wanjarri wrested the seat from the saffron party by defeating its candidate Sandip Joshi, a close aide of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Joshi announced his retirement from active politics earlier this year.
The result was particularly important as the Nagpur Graduates’ constituency has previously been represented by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and the chief minister’s father, the late Gangadharrao Fadnavis.
Six years on, the seat has become a prestige battle, with the BJP seeking to wrest it back, and the Congress seeking to hold on to its success.
Candidates In The Fray
The BJP has fielded former MLA Sudhakar Kohale from the seat, while the Congress has retained Wanjarri’s candidature. However, the BJP’s decision to field Kohale had sparked opposition from former MLC and former Nagpur mayor Anil Sole, who had announced his intention to contest as an independent candidate.
The internal conflict was eventually resolved on October 12, when Sole extended support to the BJP nominee after Fadnavis visited his home and held talks with him. Sole said that although his name would remain on the ballot as the date for nomination withdrawal had expired, he would try to ensure that he would not get a single vote.
In the run-up to this year’s election, Devendra Fadnavis campaigned extensively with registered graduates and teachers, and spent two days holding meetings with office-bearers and party leaders, The Indian Express noted.
Other Constituencies
The other constituencies in Maharashtra for which elections will be held on Friday are Aurangabad Division Graduates, Pune Division Graduates, Amravati Division Teachers and Pune Division Teachers.
The MLCs who currently represent these seats are Satish Chavan, Arun Lad, Kiran Sarnaik and Jayant Asgaonkar respectively.
Chavan was elected as a candidate of the then-undivided Nationalist Congress Party, while Lad belongs to the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). Sarnaik was elected as an independent candidate, while Asgaonkar is from the Congress.
