Shiv Sena's Shinde faction nominates Chandrakant Raghuvanshi for Maharashtra legislative council bypolls

MUMBAI: The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has nominated Chandrakant Raghuvanshi for the party’s sole seat in the Legislative Council bypolls scheduled for 27 March.

Raghuvanshi, the party’s Dhule-Nandurbar communication chief and former MLC, was chosen over contenders like former Mumbai corporator Sheetal Mhatre and ex-Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, who recently joined the Sena. This seat fell vacant after Sena’s Aamsha Padvi was elected as an MLA from Akkalkuwa.

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced three candidates Sandip Joshi, Sanjay Kenekar, and Dadarao Keche for the bypolls. The Central Election Committee cleared their names after five seats fell vacant when its council members were elected to the Legislative Assembly in November.

The BJP has left two seats for its allies, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. Given its majority in the assembly, all BJP candidates are expected to be elected unopposed.