Lok Sabha elections 2024: In a fresh setback to the Uddhav Thackeray camp ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024, the former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader Babanrao Gholap joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today (April 6).
Gholap was welcomed in the party by Shinde in the presence of state minister Dada Bhuse and Deputy Chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe. Gholap, a five-time MLA from Nashik district, joining the Shinde camp may boost the party's prospects in north Maharashtra.
Former MLA Sanjay Pawar also joined the Shinde-led Sena.
299 candidates for eight seats to vote on April 26
The nomination forms of 299 candidates for eight Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats that will go to polls in the second phase on April 26 were found to be valid after scrutiny, an official said on Saturday.The eight seats are Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim in the state's Vidarbha region and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani in Marathwada. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is April 8. A total of 352 candidates had submitted nomination forms for these eight seats, the official said.
As per information from office of the state's Chief Electoral Officer, there are 25 candidates are in Buldhana, 17 in Akola, 56 in Amravati, 26 in Wardha, 20 in Yavatmal-Washim, 48 in Hingoli, 66 in Nanded and 41 in Parbhani. In Hingoli, Yavatmal-Washim and Buldhana, the fight is between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).
In Buldhana, Shiv Sena's sitting MP Prataprao Jadhav will take on Narendra Khedekar of Shiv Sena (UBT). Akola will see a fight between BJP's Anup Dhotre, Congress' Abhay Patil and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar. Amravati will see a clash between sitting MP Navneet Rana (who won in 2019 as an Independent but is now with the BJP), the Congress' Balwant Wankhede and VBA's Anandraj Ambedkar of VBA.
Wardha will see sitting BJP MP Ramdas Tadas take on NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Amar Kale. Yavatmal-Washim will see Rajshri Patil of Shiv Sena clashing with Sanjay Deshmukh of Shiv Sena (UBT), while the fight in Hingoli is between Baburao Kohlikar of the Shiv Sena and Naresh Ashtikar of Shiv Sena (UBT).
In Nanded, sitting MP Pratap Chikhlikar is up against Congress' Vasant Chavan. In Parbhani, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha chief Mahadev Jankar, part of the ruling alliance, will take on Sanjay Jadhav of Shiv Sena (UBT).
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