Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started playing its cards for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections as they released the first list of candidates. What does the first list of candidates suggest?
- Who is dominating the ticket distribution?
- Which political giants are getting tickets?
- How many MLAs do not have their party’s trust any longer?
- Has an MLA, who has won the elections six times, been kept out of the race because of the on-going PMC bank scandal?
- Why does the Maharashtra BJP Chief not have the courage to fight from his own region?
After the announcement of BJP-Sena alliance, BJP on Tuesday, 1 October, released the first list of the 125 candidates. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis got the ticket from South Nagpur.
First List Shows CM Fadnavis’s Dominance
BJP has fielded chief minister’s PA Abhimanya Pawar from Latur’s Avasa seat. Fadnavis’s favourite Mohan Mete has also been given the ticket from Nagpur. Besides this, many ministers from chief minister’s cabinet have also been given tickets – Sudhir Mungtiwar, Pankaja Munde, Ashish Shelar and Girish Mahajan.
Which Giants Did Not Get Tickets?
In the first list, Maharashtra’s current Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse and Prakash Mehta’s names have not been included. Prakash was removed from the cabinet a few months previously after allegations in the SRA Case.
Maharashtra BJP President Chandrakant Patil has been fielded from Pune. What’s shocking is that the two-time MLC has not been given ticket from his hometown –Kolhapur. Questions are being raised as to why the BJP is not fielding him from its bastion seat of Kothrud in Pune.
In total, eight MLAs have been ousted. Sardar Tara Singh, who has been an MLA for six terms from Mumbai’s Mulund, is another big name which is not in the list. On his place, BJP has fielded Mihir Kotecha.
Tara Singh is 75 years old and this might be the reason why he was not given a ticket or another reason could be his son Ranjit Singh’s name being linked to PMC Bank scandal, but nothing can be said for sure.
On the other hand, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Haribhau Bagde, 74, has been given a ticket to contest.
Most politicians who have quit the Congress and the NCP, such as Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Harshvardhan Patil, have also been given tickets.
BJP has fielded 12 women candidates as per the first list.
BJP’s Region Wise Ticket Distribution
- West Maharashtra - 37
- North Maharashtra - 11
- Vidarbha - 38
- Thane, Mumbai - 20
- Konkan - 2
- Marathawad - 17
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