Congress names two candidates for MLC election in Maharashtra

Congress on Saturday announced two candidates for the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) election, which is scheduled to be held on May 21. Congress President Sonia Gandhi approved the candidature of Rajesh Rathod who hails from Partur in Jalna district and is a young face in the party. 

As this happened, Maharashtra Congress President announced the candidature of Rajkishor alias Papa Modi for the biennial election to the legislative council of Maharashtra. Papa Modi is the party’s Beed district President and is an old-timer in the party. 

Rathod, a three-time Zila Parishad member and a youth congress workers, is also a leader of the Banjara community in the Jalna region. The son of former MLA Dhondiram Rathod, Rajesh Rathod is the young face in the party and his nomination shows that the central leadership of the Congress is ready to trust the fresh faces with leadership roles. 

Earlier, the BJP had also released its list of four candidates including BJP Nagpur city chief Pravin Datke, Ajit Gopchade, Gopichand Padalkar and Ranjit Sinh Mohite Patil who is the son of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinh Mohite Patil. The BJP has denied ticket to senior leaders including Pankaja Munde and Eknath Khadse. 

Shiv Sena also finalised the candidature of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and has re-nominated Neelam Gorhe, the deputy chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), however, is yet to declare its candidates for the MLC elections in Maharashtra. 

Uddhav Thackeray took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister on November 28, 2019, and is not the member of either house - legislative assembly or council. Any minister is constitutionally bound to get elected to the legislature or he/she ceases to be a minister. The deadline for Thackeray to get elected to either house of the state legislature is May 27. 

According to EC, the last date to file the nomination is May 11 and the date for withdrawal is May 14. The results will be out on the same day of the polling. Meanwhile, efforts were being made by the ruling side to hold the election unopposed on the nine vacancies. 

The Election Commission earlier announced the polls to the legislative council in Maharashtra on nine vacant seats after an appeal by the MVA leaders and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. 

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