Reservation battle settled; ticket hunt begins!

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

For the municipal corporation elections, many aspirants were keenly watching the reservation announcement made on November 11. Most candidates received prabhags favourable to them, and many feel they have ‘won’ the battle of reservation. Now, the real fight for party tickets is about to begin. Tickets from political parties almost guarantee election success, as winning as an independent in the prabhag system is comparatively difficult. With multiple aspirants vying for the same category, political parties are bound to face dilemmas in deciding whom to give the ticket.

The municipal corporation elections are being held after a gap of ten years, leading to increased competition across all political parties. Over the past five years, many aspirants had repeatedly prepared for elections, but with elections not happening, several had abandoned their plans. Now, with prabhag reservations and the reservation announcement process completed, elections are expected to happen. Moreover, the Supreme Court has set a deadline by the end of January.

The reservation announcement for the municipal elections came as a shock to several veteran politicians, while some were elated to receive their preferred wards. Prabhags numbered 1 to 28 under the ‘D’ category were declared open, drawing attention from all aspirants not fitting into other reserved categories. In the ‘C’ category, 25 women will contest under the general category. Prabhags 10 and 12 have two open categories.

With the reservation announcement over, aspirants are now eyeing party tickets. Currently, the highest competition for tickets is among the BJP, MIM, and Shinde Sena. In some categories, more than ten aspirants are contesting for a single general category ticket, making the task of political parties even more challenging. There is also the looming risk of rebellion, as strong independent candidates in the general category could pose a significant threat.