Mumbai, June 4

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) faced a major setback as its candidates withdrew their candidatures on Thursday, ensuring that ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance will win the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) election virtually unopposed.

Thursday was the last day to withdraw applications for the Legislative Council election and candidates withdrew their applications by 3 pm.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had announced Bal Mane as its candidate from the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Legislative Council constituency, but he withdrew from the contest on Thursday, after which the Sena expelled him from the party for anti-party activities.

Bal Mane was originally a BJP leader. However, during the 2024 assembly elections, he left the BJP and publicly joined the Thackeray group. He contested the assembly elections from Ratnagiri against Cabinet Minister Uday Samant from the Maha Vikas Aghadi, but he had to face defeat in that election. After that, he was once again brought into the election fray through the Legislative Council. However, his withdrawal before the voting has completely changed the political equations in Konkan

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena's Devyani Dongaonkar was nominated from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna Legislative Council constituency, but she suddenly withdrew her candidature, after which the party expelled Devyani Dongaonkar and her husband Krishna Dongaonkar.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Anil Kadam who was supposed to be the candidate from the Nashik Legislative Council constituency withdrew from the contest and did not file his application. Congress candidate Sahebrao Kamble, who was nominated by the Congress to contest from the Yavatmal Legialative Council, withdrew from the election.

Reacting to these developments Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut alleged here on Thursday that, “The ruling party (BJP) has spent a whopping Rs 150 crore to get our candidates to withdraw their applications. One of our candidates was given Rs 25 crore to withdraw”.
“From the information I have so far, the ruling party is adamant to ensure that elections are held unopposed and many unscrupulous methods have been adopted to achieve this. A large number of attempts were made to buy off opposition candidates and it succeeded in some places,” Sanjay Raut said.

“Yesterday (Wednesday), such transactions took place at Hotel Sofitel in Mumbai, located in the Bandra Kurla Complex. After that, our candidate in Konkan (Bal Mane) withdrew. Our candidate withdrew in Sambhajinagar. The person who fixed the deal informed us. The process of purchasing candidates is going on in Maharashtra. I think this is a way of destroying the state and the country. This is extremely dangerous for democracy,” Sanjay Raut said.
“The prices of horses were fixed only to withdraw their candidatures. I am not shocked at all. I expected this. That is why I kept saying from the beginning that this election is not ours. This election is not for party workers. This election is for those who can spend cash, do horse trading, as well as buy candidates and votes. This is not democracy. This was my honest opinion and I tried to present my opinion many times in my party. I was afraid that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would get discredited due to this, especially my party,” Sanjay Raut said.
Reacting to the withdrawal of MVA candidates from the poll fray, Maharashtra State Congress Committee President Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “Despite the BJP's power everywhere, it is still trampling upon democratic values in its desire for more power. Offers of crores of rupees have been made to opposition candidates in order to ensure that Legislative Council elections are won unopposed. The BJP has used all means to get candidates to withdraw nominations, putting aside all morality. The BJP does not want democracy. It wants a 'nomination system' instead of elections”.

“Voters of Legislative Council elections are the elected representatives in the local self-government bodies and it is a limited electorate. But in this election too, the ruling alliance has openly played the game of throwing money and enjoying the spectacle. There has been a huge distribution of money by the ruling party. The BJP and the Election Commission are in an unholy alliance. This picture is not good for democracy,” Sapkal said.

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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said that it is a big responsibility to take charge of the NCP away from the shadow of his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar after the split. In a conversation during his 'Jan Samman Yatra', Ajit Pawar said that preparations are underway for the Maharashtra Assembly elections and seat sharing talks between the ruling alliance partners NCP, Shiv Sena and BJP are progressing positively. It is worth noting that Ajit Pawar and some MLAs close to him broke ties with Sharad Pawar's party in July last year and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Later the party was named NCP and Ajit Pawar also got the election symbol. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP SP is part of the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi. Apart from Sharad Pawar's NCP SP, the Maha Vikas Aghadi also includes Congress and Shiv Sena UBT.

Seat sharing talks underway

Speaking about seat sharing for the upcoming state elections, Pawar said he has spoken to Shiv Sena leader Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis two-three times and the talks are progressing in a positive manner. On the dates for elections in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar said it is the Election Commission's job to decide. Ajit Pawar advocated an all-party meeting to discuss the Maratha community's demand for reservation in education and government jobs. Ajit Pawar said opposition parties cannot be ignored as they also represent the people.

Pawar said, 'Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had called an all-party meeting to discuss the reservation issue, but the opposition kept away from the meeting. I don't know if the boycott was intentional or not. He said time will be sought from them (the opposition) again.' Lauding the Mukhyamantri Ladki Behen Yojana, Pawar said the scheme will be launched on August 17 at a programme in Balewadi where beneficiaries will receive money for July and August. CM Shinde and Deputy CM Fadnavis will attend the programme.

What did Ajit Pawar say on reuniting with Sharad Pawar

On being asked about the mistake he referred to in connection with the fight between Supriya Sule and his wife Sunetra in the Baramati Lok Sabha elections was political or personal, he said, "There is nothing intentional in speaking about a mistake. I am the master of my mind. I speak my mind. I am a simple person." He refused to speak on the rift in the Pawar family (due to the NCP split). When asked about the possibility of reuniting with Sharad Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister said, "I will just talk about my work and vision for Maharashtra. We will ask people to give us a chance again so that we can bring more money for the state." The opposition is always negative.

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