Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, November 5, expelled five rebel leaders for anti-party activities after they failed to withdraw nominations filed for the Maharashtra Assembly election scheduled to take place on November 20. The expelled leaders include Bhiwandi East MLA Rupesh Mhatre, Wani district head Vishwas Nandekar, Chandrakant Ghugul from Yavatmal, Sanjay Awari from Malegaon, and Prasad Thakre from Wani in Nashik.
From the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - 14 candidates had filed nomination papers, for not following party command. Among those who withdrew their nominations by the Monday deadline was Congress' Mukhtar Shaikh, who withdrew from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency in Pune and announced his support to the party's official candidate Ravindra Dhangekar.
Mhatre filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Bhiwandi where Rais Shaikh is the Samajwadi Party’s sitting MLA, and also the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) candidate. However, by Monday evening he withdrew from the contest.
Congress leader Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati withdrew as candidate from from Kolhapur North minutes before the deadline left the party without representation in one of its western Maharashtra strongholds. She was nominated in place of ex-corporator Rajesh Latkar after a party office was vandalised by those opposed to the latter.
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Among the seven Congress rebels that withdrew their nomination were Hemalata Patil from Nashik Central, Madhu Chavan from Byculla and Vishwanath Walvi from Nandurbar. Only two NCP(SP) rebels are in the fray.
A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 assembly seats in the state, while 2,938 candidates withdrew their nomination papers. The number count is a 28% higher from the 3,239 candidates who fought the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls.