Satara: A total of five people who had filed nominations from the Satara Lok Sabha constituency have withdrawn their nominations. Although that leaves 15 candidates in the fray, the picture of the election is already clear: it will be a two-cornered contest between MP Udayanraje Bhosale and MLA Shashikant Shinde. Meanwhile, symbols were also distributed to independent candidates.
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A total of 24 candidates had filed 33 nomination papers for the Satara Lok Sabha seat. In the scrutiny, the nomination papers of 21 candidates were found valid and the nomination papers of 3 candidates were declared invalid. After that. The last date for withdrawal of applications was May 22. A total of five people withdrew their nominations till the last day.
This leaves a total of 16 people in the electoral arena. These include Udayanraje Bhosale (BJP), Shashikant Shinde of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar), Anand Ramesh Thorwade from Bahujan Samaj Party, Prashant Raghunath Kadam of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Tushar Vijay Motling from Bahujan Mukti Party, Sayaji Ganpat Waghmare of Bahujan Republican Socialist Party, Dr. Abhijit Vamanrao Awade-Bichukale who is an Independent.
Other independent candidates include Sureshrao Dinkar Korde, Sanjay Kondiba Gade, Nivrutti Keru Shinde, Pratibha Shelar, Sadashiv Sahebrao Bagal, Maruti Dhondiram Jankar, Vishwajit Patil-Undalkar, Sachin Subhash Mahajan and Seema Sunil Potdar.
Two EVM machines at each location
Only 16 names can fit on an EVM machine. If there are more than 16 candidates in a constituency, two EVM machines will have to be used. While there are 16 candidates for the Satara Lok Sabha seat, a total of 17 names will added due to the NOTA option. As a result, two EVMs will have to be used at every place in the Satara constituency.