Former corporators; wards of leaders desirous to contest elections

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: For the upcoming municipal corporation elections, the BJP has begun accepting nomination forms from aspiring candidates in order to gather information about those who wish to contest. In the last two days, about 1,120 aspirants have collected forms and submitted them by Monday evening. The aspirants include former corporators, former deputy mayors, children of senior leaders, office-bearers of various organisations, and party workers.

Out of 29 prabhags (115 wards), the party is facing a tough challenge in 16 prabhags due to a high number of aspirants, while in the remaining 13 prabhags, the BJP does not have equally strong candidates. The real picture will become clear after the scrutiny of the forms.

With a dozen aspirants applying from each prabhag, the party faces the difficult task of selecting the right candidates. Moreover, if many do not get tickets, dissatisfaction is likely. If the core committee fails to manage this unrest, the high number of applications indicates that rebellion within the party is possible!.

If the Mahayuti is formed, rebellion is certain

If the Mahayuti is formed, the BJP may get only 23 wards , equivalent to around 6 prabhags, which it had held till 2020. In these seats, the children of senior leaders and former corporators will be considered first, and only then will active party workers be adjusted. Many aspirants, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claim that rebellion is inevitable if the alliance materialises.

How many newcomers collected forms?

Shilparani Wadkar, who joined the party last week, collected and submitted her form as an aspirant.

Which leaders’ children have applied?

Harshvardhan Karad, son of MP Dr. Bhagwat Karad and Harshvardhan Kenekar, son of MLC Sanjay Kenekar, both have submitted their applications. Dr. Ujwala Dahiphale has also filed her nomination form.

Former office-bearers and corporators in the race

Former deputy mayors Pramod Rathod, Vijay Autade, Sadhana Suradkar, and Sanjay Joshi have submitted their forms. From the standing committee, Surendra Kulkarni and Dilip Thorat, along with Nitin Chitte, Rameshwar Bhadave, Shivaji Dandge, Rajgaurav Wankhede, Mahesh Malvatkar, and about 21 aspirants from the 2015 (civic body) list, have also collected forms. Sameer Rajurkar and former mayor Bapu Ghadamode have not collected the forms.

Committee formed for election planning

The BJP has formed an independent operations committee for the municipal elections and assigned responsibilities to various leaders. City president Kishor Shitole will coordinate with alliance partners. Former city presidents Shirish Boralkar and Anil Makariye will manage the visits and meetings of national and state leaders. OBC Welfare Minister Atul Save will serve as district in-charge. Sameer Rajurkar will be the election chief. Dhananjay Kulkarni will head the campaign office. Adv. Amit Deshpande will be the election officer (coordination). Satish Chhapekar will be media chief. Pratik Shirse will lead social media.

Other members assigned various responsibilities include Srinivas Dev, Rajesh Mehta, Bapu Ghadmode, Prashant Desarda, Manoj Pangarkar, Sanjay Khanale, Mukund Ladkekar, Dr. Ujwala Dahiphale, Rahul Dandge, Arvind Dongaonkar, Ashok Mule, Ganesh Joshi, and others.