BJP declares three candidates for Maharashtra council bypolls

Three of the MLCs who entered the assembly were from the BJP, followed by one each of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. All three parties are constituent of the ruling Mahayuti coalition in the state

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced the names of three candidates, including a close aide of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and a former MLA, for the March 27 by-elections to five seats in the state legislative council.

The by-elections have been necessitated due to the victory of the five sitting MLCs in the November 2024 assembly polls.

Three of the MLCs who entered the assembly were from the BJP, followed by one each of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. All three parties are constituent of the ruling Mahayuti coalition in the state.

The BJP on Sunday announced the names of Sandip Diwakarrao Joshi, former mayor of Nagpur and a close aide of Fadnavis, Sanjay Kishanrao Kenekar, general secretary of the state BJP unit, and former MLA Dadarao Yadavrao Keche, for the council bypolls.

Keche won the 2009 and 2019 assembly elections from the Arvi constituency in the Wardha district of the Vidarbha region. He was denied a ticket for the 2024 polls as the BJP then fielded Fadnavis' former personal secretary Sumit Wankhede from the Arvi seat.

The last day for candidates to file nominations is March 17.

The byelections of the MLCs are from the MLA quota in the 288-member legislative assembly.

The BJP has 132 MLAs, Shiv Sena 57 and NCP 41, making them comfortably placed to win all the five seats, given their dominating presence in the lower house.

The last date of scrutiny of nominations is March 18, while candidates can withdraw from the contest on March 20. If needed, voting will take place on March 27 with the MLAs forming the electoral college.

Five seats in the state legislative council fell vacant after the existing MLCs won last year's state assembly election.

The Election Commission of India announced the details of the bypolls for these five seats on March 3.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Assembly Election last year witnessed a decisive victory for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which secured a landslide win with 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.

The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

The MVA suffered a major setback, with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats. 

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