It's a straight fight between Cong, Sena

AURANGABAD: The biennial election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Aurangabad-Jalna Local Authorities Constituency to be held on August 19 has finally boiled down to a straight fight between sitting Shiv SenaMLCKishanchandTanwani and Congress nominee SubhashZambad.
Altogether seven candidates had filed their papers while the nomination of Devyani Krishna Patil was rejected during the scrutiny of papers.Four others - former mayor and NCP leader Manmohan Singh Oberoi, NCP corporator Abhijit Deshmukh, Congress leader Feroz Patel and Independent corporator in Aurangabad Municipal Corporation Shahnawaz Khan Rehman Khan - withdrew their papers on Monday, which was the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
"The NCP has already extended its support to the Congress nominee due to which all its nominees withdrew their papers,'' said Arun Mugdia, secretary, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
Altogether 471 members of zilla parishads and civic bodies in Aurangabad and Jalna districts would take part in the election process.
The counting of votes will be done on August 21. The seat has traditionally been represented by the Congress in the legislative council with an exception of 2007 election when Tanwani wrested the seat in a triangular fight. However, this time the odds seem to be in favour of Zambad, a businessman-turned-politician.
Out of total 471 elected representatives in civic bodies and zilla parishads, Congress has 145 members while its ally NCP accounts for 83. On the other hand, Shiv Sena has 94 members followed by the BJP (51) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (12) members in two districts. Rest of the members are either independent or represent smaller parties.
Mugdia said the group of corporators led by two independent MLAs - Suresh Jethliya from Patur in Jalna district and Prashant Bamb from Gangapur in Aurangabad - have extended their support to the Congress nominee. "We are also trying to reach out to the members of smaller parties. The Congress-NCP alliance has strength of 228 members and with support from two independent MLAs and smaller parties, we could even touch the 300 mark," he added.