By IANS,
Mumbai : The biennial elections for six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra became interesting with eight candidates in the fray at close of nominations here Monday.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is Thursday, March 22, and, if needed, the elections shall be held March 30.
The Congress has re-nominated its two sitting candidates – Union Minister for Science & Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla.
Its alliance partner, Nationalist Congress Party has fielded three candidates. Former Pune mayor and present city chief Vandana Chavan, state unit spokesperson Prakash Binsale and NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi.
On the opposition front, the Shiv Sena has fielded Anil Desai, a youthful leader and close to party’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray.
Desai handles the party’s pet project, Sthanik Lokadhikar Samiti which works for the cause of the sons-of-the-soil in matters of employment opportunities for Marathi youth.
Its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party has nominated a Nagpur-based industrialist Ajay Sancheti, believed to be close to BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who also hails from Nagpur.
Besides these seven, a Pune-based businessman Sanjay Kakade, has thrown his hat in the ring, claiming the support of many independents and others.
Six vacancies have arisen in the state as the terms of the sitting Rajya Sabha members expire April 2, and barring the Congress, none of the parties have renominated any of their retiring members.
The retiring members are: Congress’s Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajeev Shukla (both re-nominated), NCP’s Govindrao Adik and Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil (both not fielded), Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi (not fielded) and BJP’s Bal Apte (not fielded).
After the withdrawal of nominations, if none of the eight candidates withdraw, the elections would become crucial as it could mar the chances of at least two candidates.
According to political sources, the NCP may withdraw one of its four candidates, which would still leave one extra candidate – Kakade – and give cause for worry to the remaining official candidates in the fray.