Mahayuti wins six legislative council seats unopposed in Maharashtra amid spate of withdrawals

Mumbai: Several MVA candidates pulled out of the legislative council election from local body constituencies before the end of the deadline on Thursday, leaving at least six seats where Mahayuti candidates were elected unopposed. While the Shiv Sena (UBT) expelled two candidates who withdrew, other MVA parties alleged horse trading by the Mahayuti.Those elected unopposed were Arun Lakhani of the BJP from the Wardha-Gadchiroli-Chandrapur seat. Lakhani is the to-be father-in-law of NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule’s daughter.Ravindra Phatak of the Shiv Sena was elected unopposed from Thane, Aniket Tatkare of the NCP from Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhdurg, NCP candidate Vikram Kakade from Pune, BJP’s Prajakt Tanpure from Ahilyanagar, and Dushyant Chaturvedi from Yavatmal.Aniket Tatkare is the son of senior NCP politician Sunil Tatkare.On Wednesday, BJP state president Ravindra Chavan had expressed confidence that the Mahayuti would win all 17 seats.Congress state chief Harshvardhan Sapkal alleged that the ruling BJP offered crores to opposition candidates to ensure the legislative council election would be won uncontested.The Congress fielded candidates in nine seats, but only four remained in the fray after four candidates withdrew their nominations on the last date of withdrawal against the party’s wishes and one nomination was rejected on technical grounds.In the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg local bodies constituency, Sena (UBT) candidate Surendranath (Bal) Mane withdrew his nomination. Sena (UBT) expelled Mane, stating that the action was taken on the instructions of party chief Uddhav Thackeray for anti-party activities.In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna constituency, MVA candidate Devyani Dongaonkar withdrew her nomination on Thursday. Sena (UBT) initiated disciplinary action against Devyani and Krishna Dongargaonkar, accusing them of anti-party activities.Sena (UBT) functionaries said they lost two official candidates in separate constituencies before polling.“The withdrawals have come even as the opposition was trying to attack the Mahayuti through their rebel nominations and internal tensions. But Sena (UBT) candidates pulling out at the last minute shows they don’t have any will left to fight. It seems that they were sure of losing and have opted to give the Mahayuti a walkover. There is also buzz that they used the MVA nomination to bargain with the Mahayuti and could switch over to Mahayuti in the days to come,” a political observer said.Sapkal said the BJP abandoned all ethical standards and employed every possible tactic to secure withdrawals. “The BJP does not want democracy. It prefers a ‘nomination system’ rather than an ‘election system’,” Sapkal said. He alleged that the BJP indulged in horse-trading. Though the MVA had no strength to win most of the seats, Sapkal said that even if the opposition MVA had fewer members, that should not be used to undermine the electoral process.“Bal Mane has been expelled from Shiv Sena, due to his involvement in anti-party activities, this action has been taken by Shiv Sena (UBT) party chief Uddhav Thackeray! Krishna Dongaonkar and Devyani Dongaonkar (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar) have been expelled… this action has been taken on the orders of party chief Uddhav Thackeray for their participation in anti-party activities,” Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said in a post on X.