Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former MP Chandrakant Khaire and Maharashtra Minister Sandipan Bhumre on Monday filed their nomination papers from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat. A grand road show was organised from Kranti Chowk and thousands of people participated in the show. Before the rally, a delegation of five members including Khaire went to the district collectorate and filled the nomination form.
Khaire has been officially announced the candidate of Mahavikas Aghadi from Aurangabad Constituency. A grand rally was organized from Kranti Chowk at 1 pm after garlanding the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Kranti Chowk. People carrying saffron, blue, tri-colour, yellow and red flags participated in the rally. Several senior leaders including former minister Amit Deshmukh and others participated in the rally. Addressing the rally, Deshmukh mentioned that the Central Government has failed on all the fronts.
All the leaders, activists of the allied parties of Mahavikas Aghadi participated in the rally. Later, former Minister Aditya Thackeray also participated in the rally at Paithan Gate. Khaire and other leaders were welcomed at various parts on the route of the rally. The rally passed through Paithan Gate, Gulmandi, Machalikhadak, Pandariba and other places.
Talking to reporters at Chikalthana Airport, Thackeray said people of the country are with the INDIA alliance formed by the opposition parties.
On the Election Commission's notice to his party for the removal of the words "Hindu" and "Jai Bhavani" from its new anthem, Thackeray said, "We will not remove the words from the song. The EC should act against the BJP first." Shiv Sena candidate Sandeepan Bhumre also filed his nomination papers during the day in the presence of MLA Sanjay Shirsat and BJP district President Shirish Boralkar.
Polling for the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat will be held on May 13.
Four bigwigs in fight
In the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, the representation across its six Vidhan Sabha segments is diverse. Udaysingh Rajput of Shiv Sena (UBT) represents Kannad, while Pradeep Jaiswal, also from Shiv Sena (Shinde), holds office in Aurangabad Central. Sanjay Shirsat, another member of Shiv Sena (Shinde), represents Aurangabad West (SC). Atul Save from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) serves the Aurangabad East constituency. In Gangapur, Prashant Bamb of the BJP is the elected representative, while Ramesh Bornare of Shiv Sena (Shinde) represents Vaijapur.
Aurangabad had been a fortress of the undivided Shiv Sena six times since 1989. However, the Bal Thackeray-founded party suffered a setback when its veteran leader Khaire faced an unexpected defeat at the hands of AIMIM candidate Imtiaz Jaleel, who won by a narrow margin of less than 4,500 votes.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has fielded Afsar Khan, a former Congress corporator, and the AIMIM has announced the candidature of sitting MP Imtiaz Jaleel, who will filed his nomination on Wednesday.
Former MLA Harshawardhan Jadhav has also filed his nomination from the seat as an independent candidate.
The Lok Sabha constituency comprises 30,52,724 voters, including 16,00,169 men, 14,52,415 women and 140 third-gender persons.
