Mumbai: Sparring allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena will face off yet again on Monday in the elections to four seats of the Maharashtra legislative council. BJP and Shiv Sena nominees are locked in all four constituencies, apart from candidates fielded and supported by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, and other smaller organizations.
In Maharashtra’s bicameral legislature, NCP with 20 MLCs is the largest party in the 78-member Upper House. Two of the four seats are to be elected from the graduates’ constituencies and the other two from the teachers’ constituencies.
In the last elections to six seats of the legislative council in May, the BJP and Shiv Sena did not have a formal alliance, but the allies contested three seats each against Congress and NCP. The BJP won three and Shiv Sena two. The NCP held on to one seat.
This time around, however, the BJP has fielded nominees against the Shiv Sena in both Mumbai graduates’ constituency and the teachers’ constituency. For the Shiv Sena, the battle for the Mumbai graduates’ constituency is a prestigious one as it has held this seat three times in a row. The Sena has fielded Vilas Potnis from this seat, who faces BJP nominee Amit Mehta. The Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) has fielded Raju Korde supported by the Congress, NCP, and Left parties and organizations.
A Shiv Sena leader, who did not want to be named, said the fight was between Shiv Sena and BJP. “It is a tough battle this time since the BJP has emerged a strong challenger to the Shiv Sena in Mumbai and the educated class has always been the BJP’s strength. But we have our own support base built over last several decades and the graduates in this constituency have always sided with Shiv Sena,” he said.
In the Mumbai teachers’ constituency, the BJP has sought to challenge the dominance of incumbent MLC Kapil Patil who represents a teachers’ organization called Lok Bharati, by fielding Anil Deshmukh who represents a teachers’ organization affiliated to the BJP. The Sena has fielded Shivaji Shendge here.
For the BJP, a tougher battle is in the Konkan graduates’ constituency which has been its bastion for long but where it faces a serious challenge from the Shiv Sena and the NCP. For the NCP which has fielded its Thane leader Najib Mulla here, the election is important since the BJP last month poached incumbent NCP MLC Niranjan Daokhare and nominated him this time. Apart from the NCP nominee, Daokhare faces Shiv Sena’s Sanjay More also.
In the Nashik teachers’ constituency, the NCP has fielded Sandip Bedse, who has got support from the Congress also. The BJP has given ticket to Aniket Patil, son of former Congress minister Vijay Patil.
In the 78-member legislative council, the NCP has 20 members and the BJP 19. The Congress has 18 members and Shiv Sena 11. Together, the NCP and Congress still have a majority in the upper house.