Power Corridors Bureau
Mumbai: With the nomination deadline passing on Tuesday, uncertainty persists over nearly a dozen and a half seats in Maharashtra, as both the ruling alliance and the Opposition remain undecided on their candidate lists.
The BJP-led coalition, which includes Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has yet to officially announce nominees for four seats. Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — comprising the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, and the Congress — is holding back on declaring candidates for 11 seats.
So far, the BJP has fielded 152 candidates, Ajit Pawar’s NCP 52, and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena 80, with smaller allies receiving four seats from the BJP and two from Shiv Sena. In the MVA camp, the Congress has announced 103 candidates, with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP each fielding 87.
However, Sharad Pawar’s afternoon announcement confirming his faction’s final count at 87 did little to dispel uncertainty over the remaining 11 seats. Some of these may go to smaller allies and the Samajwadi Party, but specifics remain unclear.
The unusual hold-up follows weeks of tense negotiations within the Opposition bloc, while the ruling alliance, despite showing relative unity, has also left room for speculation. Adding to the complexity, a wave of discontent has spurred leaders from both sides to file nominations as independents, some in a direct show of defiance.
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The most notable instance involved Nawab Malik from Ajit Pawar’s NCP, who submitted two nominations for the Mankhud seat: one as an NCP member and another as an independent. Just minutes before the deadline, the NCP threw its support behind Malik, prompting him to identify himself as the party’s official candidate.
In response to the controversy surrounding Malik, who faces allegations in a money laundering case linked to Dawood Ibrahim and his associates, the BJP quickly distanced itself. Maharashtra BJP chief Ashish Shelar emphasized, “The BJP will not campaign for Nawab Malik. Devendra Fadnavis has clarified this repeatedly: we won’t endorse anyone involved in cases tied to Dawood Ibrahim.”
