Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The office-bearers of the Shiv Sena, a key component of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, have raised the banner of rebellion in all three constituencies—East, Central, and West—of the city. The situation has become challenging for the party as the rebels are required to reach an agreement to withdraw their candidacies by November 4.
As per the MVA's seat-sharing agreement, the Aurangabad Central and West constituencies belong to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction), while the East assembly constituency has been allocated to the Congress party. Accordingly, the Uddhav Sena fielded Raju Shinde from the West and Balasaheb Thorat from the Central constituencies, respectively. However, in the West constituency, aspiring candidate and tehsil chief Balu Gaikwad has rebelled.
Former Shiv Sena corporator Jaywant (Bandu Oak) has submitted his nomination in the Central constituency. Besides, Lahu Shewale has filed his nomination in the East constituency, while Sena’s Mahanagar Pramukh Raju Vaidya has also submitted his candidacy. If these rebel candidates do not withdraw their nominations by November 4, it could impact the results of the MVA official candidate. Hence the party superiors will have to speak to the rebels and convince them so that they can withdraw their nomination papers and pave the way for the official candidates to contest the election without any hassles.