Athawale, Tawde, Parth, Sharad Pawar file nominations for RS from Maharashtra

Six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance and one nominee from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Thursday filed their nominations for the seven Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra that are set to fall vacant next month reported news agency PTIAmong those filing nominations were Union minister Ramdas Athawale senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde and Parth Pawar Opposition candidate Sharad Pawar also filed his nomination for the lone seat expected to be won by the opposition alliance reported PTIAll the candidates submitted their nomination papers at the Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai on the final day for filing nominations with the process remaining open until 3 pmBJP fields four candidates for Upper House electionsThe Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded four candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections from MaharashtraThese include Vinod Tawde Ramdas Athawale former Nagpur mayor Maya Chintaman Ivnate and former MLC Ramrao WadkuteDevendra Fadnavis accompanied the BJP candidates during the filing of their nomination papersTawde who first won the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2014 served as the statersquos education minister in the previous BJPled government Although he was denied a ticket in the 2019 Assembly elections he later moved to nationallevel organisational work within the party and currently serves as its national general secretaryWadkute once considered a close associate of Sharad Pawar in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party earlier served as a member of the legislative council with Pawarrsquos support before joining the BJP He belongs to the Hatkar community from the Marathwada regionIvnate previously made history as the first mayor of Nagpur from a tribal backgroundShiv Sena nominates Jyoti WaghmareThe Shiv Sena has nominated party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare for the Rajya Sabha electionHer nomination came amid speculation that former Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale a close aide of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde could be sent to the Upper House Shewale had lost the 2024 Lok Sabha electionsNCP fields Parth PawarThe ruling Nationalist Congress Party has fielded Parth Pawar as its candidateParth Pawar had earlier contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Maval constituency but was defeatedHe was recently in the news following a controversial land deal in Punersquos Mundhwa area involving a 40acre government land parcel worth nearly 300 crore The land was reportedly sold to Amadea Enterprises LLP in which Parth holds a majority stake and the deal drew scrutiny after it emerged that the firm had been exempted from stamp duty The transaction was later cancelledParthrsquos mother Sunetra Pawar became the statersquos deputy chief minister after the death of her husband Ajit Pawar in a plane crash on January 28 She continues to serve as a Rajya Sabha member and has not resigned from the positionSharad Pawar gets opposition backingOn the opposition side 85yearold Sharad Pawar has been nominated as the candidate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi allianceThe decision came after the Indian National Congress announced its support for Pawar on Wednesday The announcement was made by AICC general secretary Ramesh ChennithalaThe declaration ended days of speculation over the opposition candidate as all three MVA partners mdash Congress NCP Sharad Pawar faction and the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray mdash had initially staked claim to the seatVoting scheduled for March 16Polling for the Rajya Sabha elections will take place on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm with counting scheduled to begin at 5 pm on the same day Members of the legislative assembly form the electoral college for these electionsThe Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra whose sixyear terms will end in April include Sharad Pawar Ramdas Athawale Fauzia Khan Rajni Patil Priyanka Chaturvedi and BJP MPs Dhananjay Mahadik and Bhagwat KaradThe Election Commission of India has announced polls for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 statesBased on the current strength in the Maharashtra Assembly the Maha Vikas Aghadi is expected to secure only one seat while the Mahayuti alliance could win six of the seven seats unless crossvoting or strategic transfers occur under the single transferable vote system used in Rajya Sabha electionsWith inputs from PTI