Mumbai, Feb 14 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday decided against fielding a fourth candidate for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections, paving the way for uncontested walk through for all the six candidates.
BJP state President Chandrashekhar Bawankule told mediapersons that all the parties in the fray have their respective winning quotas for the six seats and there was no need for a fourth candidate.
“We are not going to give a fourth candidate. The elections shall definitely be unopposed,” he asserted, scotching political speculation that the BJP could spring a ‘surprise’ by putting up a fourth candidate which could sully the prospects of the Congress in the RS polls.
The BJP on Wednesday announced three candidates – ex-chief minister Ashok Chavan, ex-MLA Medha Kulkarni and a RSS leader Dr. Ajit Gopchhade – while the Congress has put up a Dalit face, its state Working President Chandrakant D. Handore.
Bawankule said that Chavan – who joined the BJP on Tuesday – deserves to be honoured with a RS nomination.
The ruling allies Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party are likely to announce their nominees shortly, with several names including Milind M. Deora and Parth Ajit Pawar or Sameer Bhujbal, respectively, doing the rounds.
Handore’s name for RS came nearly 20 months after he suffered an embarrassing defeat in the June 2022 biennial elections as Member of Legislative Council due to cross-voting despite being the Congress’ first-choice candidate, shocking the state and central party bigwigs.
Handore, 67, a prominent Dalit leader in the party, has been a former Municipal Corporator, later Mayor of Mumbai, a two-time MLA and state minister for several years, while his wife Sangita Handore is a former BMC Municipal Corporator.
Bawankule said that the stress was to send qualified and experienced candidates to the Upper House of Parliament as they work not only for the state but also for the entire country to fulfil peoples’ aspirations effectively.
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