Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharastra, Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal from the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has resigned from his position as Mumbai president of the faction. As per the information, he has also filed his independent nomination for the Nandgaon constituency in Nashik district. He had been preparing to contest the upcoming assembly elections from the Nandgaon constituency. However, the Nandgaon seat is currently under the control of the Mahayuti alliance led by Eknath Shinde. According to sources, Bhujbal may still contest the election from Sharad Pawar’s faction of the NCP.
On Wednesday, the Nationalist Congress Party released its first list of 38 candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls with Deputy Chief Minister and party head Ajit Pawar being nominated from Baramati seat in Pune district. Apart from renominating 26 sitting MLAs, including ministers who sided with Ajit Pawar when he joined the ruling camp, the NCP has also fielded sitting legislators Sulbha Khodke (Amravati) and Hiraman Khoskar (Igatpuri) who switched over from the Congress recently.
Bharat Gavit, son of Congress veteran late Manikrao Gavit, has been fielded from Navapur. Deputy Speaker of state assembly Narhari Zirwal has been fielded from Dindori and state cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Yeola. Former minister Rajkumar Badole, who was earlier with the BJP, has been given the ticket from Arjuni-Morgaon.
Maharashtra Assembly elections
The Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20. The votes for the state will be counted on November 23. The BJP is keen to retain power in Maharashtra along with allies Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is facing a challenge from the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of the Congress-NCPSP-Shiv SenaUBT, which hopes to repeat its performance in the Lok Sabha elections. The opposition MVA alliance won 31 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections.
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