About 50 rebel candidates belonging to the incumbent Mahayuti as well as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are in the fray for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections, even though both the coalitions mounted all attempts to persuade them to withdraw their nomination against their official faces.
Of these rebels, 26 are from the Mahayuti – comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP – and 18 are from the MVA which includes the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP). Both the camps are also caught in around six “friendly fights”.
Barring a few seats, these rebels are contesting as Independents from across the state. In some of the constituencies, the rebels may damage the prospects of the official candidates of their parties or its allies.
In the ruling alliance, 13 rebels from the BJP are contesting against the Shinde Sena and NCP; 12 Shinde Sena rebels are taking on the other two partners; and one rebel is from the NCP, Sameer Bhujbal, who quit the party
to file nomination as an Independent against the Shinde Sena’s sitting MLA Suhas Kande in the Nandgaon seat.
In the Opposition camp, five Congress rebels are pitted against the Sena (UBT) and the NCP(SP); two rebels from the Uddhav Sena are contesting against the NCP(SP); and one from the NCP(SP) is taking on the Sena (UBT).
The MVA parties are also reeling from “internal rebellion” in several seats, where the rebels have thrown their hats against their own party’s official nominees after being denied tickets. In Versova, besides the BJP, the Sena (UBT) is facing a challenge from its rebel too. The seat will witness a three-cornered fight between the BJP’s sitting MLA Bharati Lavekar, the Sena (UBT)’s Haroon Khan and its rebel Raju Pednekar. The Congress and the NCP(SP) have six and three such rebels respectively.
In the Pandharpur constituency, the MVA is having a friendly contest between the Congress’s Bhagirath Bhalke and the NCP(SP)’s Anil Sawant.
Both alliances were engaged in hectic negotiations and frantic bargaining with their rebel candidates in their bids to get them to stand down and not dent their chances by dividing the votes. Their senior leaders even resorted to
the carrot and stick approach, offering some of them various party or legislature positions and even warning of expulsion from the party, but they failed in the cases of around 50 rebels.
Just before the end of deadline for nomination withdrawal on November 4, Uddhav and Pawar gave an ultimatum of one hour to their rebel candidates to withdraw. “Those rebels who have not withdrawn will face action from the party,” Uddhav had then said.
Although Uddhav had also said that his party would withdraw its candidates from Pen, Panvel and Alibaug and support the nominees of the Peasants Workers Party (PWP), a smaller MVA ally, there, it was done only in the case of Alibaug. Apart from Pen and Panvel, the Sena (UBT) and the PWP are also having a friendly fight in the Sangole seat.
The Mahayuti alliance is facing a friendly fight in the Shivaji Nagar Mankhurd seat, where the Shinde Sena’s rebel Suresh Patil did not back out against the ally NCP’s Nawab Malik, who is pitted against the SP’s Abu Azmi.
In Nashik’s Dindori, the Shinde Sena claimed to have got its rebel candidate Dhanraj Mahale to stand down against the NCP’s Narhari Zirwal. In Deolali,
the party’s rebel Rajshree Ahirrao however did not do the same, where the NCP’s sitting MLA Saroj Ahire is the alliance’s official candidate, thereby setting up a friendly contest between them.
A Mahayuti leader said the rebels have joined the fight in several seats being contested by other allies as “they are upset over denial of tickets to their party, and, by extension, themselves”. “We tried hard to convince them and succeeded in many cases. But several still remained in contention, who may hurt us,” he said.
From the Mahayuti, of the state’s 288 seats, the BJP has fielded 152 candidates, the Shinde Sena 78 and the NCP 52. From the MVA, the Congress has put up 104 candidates, the Uddhav Sena 94 and the NCP(SP) 87.
On Wednesday, Uddhav expelled his Versova’s rebel candidate Pednekar for indulging in “anti-party activities”. Similarly, the Shinde Sena expelled Mahesh Gaikwad, its Kalyan city chief who is in the fray as an Independent from Kalyan East against BJP candidate Sulbha Gaikwad.
Mahayuti rebels – 26
Sena rebels against BJP – 7
Sena rebels against NCP – 5
BJP rebels against Sena – 6
BJP rebels against NCP – 7
NCP rebels against Sena – 1
Friendly fights – 2
Sena vs NCP – 2
MVA rebels – 8
Cong rebels against Sena (UBT) – 4
Cong rebels against NCP (SP) – 1
Sena (UBT) rebels against NCP (SP) – 2
NCP(SP) rebel against Sena (UBT) -1
MVA’s internal rebels – 10
Sena (UBT) -1
NCP – 3
Cong – 6
Friendly fights – 4
Cong vs NCP (SP) – 1
PWP vs Sena (UBT) – 3
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