THE ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra on Thursday fielded sitting MLC Dr Neelam Gorhe and newly-inducted former MLA Bacchu Kadu as its candidates for next month’s State Legislative Council elections. Gorhe is currently the Deputy Chairperson of the Legislative Council. Her term as a member of House is set to end on May 13. Kadu, who heads the Prahar Janshakti Paksh (PJP), joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde here. His candidature for the Council polls was announced soon after that. Speaking to reporters here, Shinde said the party has decided to nominate Gorhe and Kadu as they have a long record of public service. “Both Dr Gorhe and Bacchu Kadu have vast experience in social work and have consistently raised issues concerning the people. We have fielded them as Shiv Sena candidates for the MLC elections,” he said. Nine council members, including Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, are retiring on May 13. Polling for these nine seats and a by-poll to one seat in the Council will be held on May 12.

 

The deadline for nomination filing is 3 pm on Thursday. Sena ally BJP has nominated five candidates -- Pramod Jathar, Sunil Vinayak Karjatkar, Madhavi Naik, Sanjay Natthuji Bhende and Vivek Bipindada Kolhe -- for the Council elections. It has also fielded Pradnya Rajeev Satav for the by-poll to one seat, necessitated due to her resignation as Congress MLC. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance is in a position to win only one of the seats. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday stated that party leader Ambadas Danve will be its nominee. Ten nominations were filed for as many seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council as of Thursday with the ruling BJP fielding 6 candidates, while the Opposition fielded 1 nominee for the sole seat it can win. The biennial election slated for May 12 is, thus, likely to be unopposed. Thursday is the last date to file nomination papers. The NCP led by deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar fielded former MLA Zeeshan Siddique. All 6 BJP candidates filed their papers in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on May 2, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 4.