Maharashtra Council polls: 4-way fight for Mumbai’s seat

Contesting the Legislative Council elections the Shiv Sena UBT Congress and NCP SP reached an agreement for sharing seats on the last day for withdrawing nominations On the rival side though the NDA chose a friendly fight for one place The BJP and NCP Ajit Pawar have kept their stakes in the Mumbai teachersrsquo segment along with Sena UBT and Shikshan Bharati which has a sitting MLC Suspense over Mumbairsquos graduatesrsquo seat for which Shinde Sena and BJP had fielded their candidates prevailed till the last minutesMVA leaders during a press conference File PicSayyed Sameer AbediMeanwhile Shinde Sena nominee Deepak Sawantrsquos status was not known immediately Sources said Dr Sawant and the RPI candidate had withdrawn from the race Sawant went incommunicado after 3 pm BJPrsquos Kiran Shelar will take on Sena UBTrsquos seasoned leader Anil Parab Observers said that Sawantrsquos candidature would have helped BJP by way of division of votesMVA sortedA day before the state Congress President Nana Patole had resented Uddhav Thackerayrsquos decision to field all four candidates in Mumbai Konkan and Nashik Thackeray told a media conference on Wednesday that he had received a call from the Congressrsquos Delhi high command About Patolersquos claim that he had contacted him earlier the Sena UBT president said that there was a communication gap ldquoI was abroad for some days The nominations had started So instead of waiting we filed nominations We reached an agreement on Wednesdayrdquo he saidAccording to the deal Thackerayrsquos candidate in Konkan graduatesrsquo constituency Kishor Jain and NCPs Amit Saraiyya withdrew for Congressrsquo Ramesh Keer who will be up against BJPrsquos Niranjan Davkhare Congressrsquos Dilip Patil pulled out from Nashik graduatesrsquo and Prakash Sonavane withdrew from the Mumbai teachersrsquo segment Voting is on June 26 and the results will be out on July 1NDArsquos partial agreementShinde Sena withdrew Sanjay More from Konkan graduatesrsquo seat thus paving the way for BJPrsquos Davkhare who is a sitting MLC from here In return BJPs aspirant Dhanraj Vispute withdrew from Nashik Another candidate Rajendra Vikhe Patil stayed out from Nashik However in Mumbai teachers the voters have a choice between four candidatesmdashBJPrsquos Shivnath Darade Sena UBTs J M Abhyankar NCP APrsquos Shivajirao Nalawade and Shikshak Bhartirsquos Subhash More Sitting MLC Kapil Patil Shikshak Bharti did not contest this timeFamily or othersNCP AP kept the excitement alive over its Rajya Sabha candidature The nomination will close today but the party hasnrsquot declared the name for one seat for which the voting is scheduled on June 25 According to the grapevine Ajit Pawarrsquos family members including his wife Sunetra Pawar who lost the Lok Sabha elections recently and some senior leaders were in contention According to state party president Sunil Tatkare the candidate will be announced today morning