BJP ramps up campaigns in Maha & J’khand, releases new candidate lists
MUMBAI/RANCHI: As the electoral process gains momentum in the two poll-bound states – Maharashtra and Jharkhand – major political parties are busy finalising their lists of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled for November.
On Monday, the ruling BJP released its third list of 25 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, awarding tickets to two former Congress members and the personal assistant of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The BJP has announced candidates for 146 seats so far. Polls for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will take place on November 20, with results declared on November 23.
Jitesh Antapurkar, who won a bypoll in 2021 on a Congress ticket and is considered close to former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, has been nominated from Deglur. Chavan recently left the Congress and joined the BJP, which subsequently appointed him as a Rajya Sabha MP.
Archana Patil-Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of Congress veteran and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil, has been fielded from the Latur City seat. She joined the BJP in March this year, leaving the Congress.
Sumit Wankhede, who has served as Fadnavis’s personal assistant for several years, will be the BJP’s candidate from the Arvi Assembly constituency.
Interestingly, the BJP had given Fadnavis’s former PA, Abhimanyu Pawar, a ticket from Ausa in 2019, which he won. Later, Shreekant Bharatiya was appointed as an MLC by the party.
Borivali BJP MLA Sunil Rane has been replaced by Sanjay Upadhyay, while MLC Praveen Datke has been fielded from the Nagpur Central seat.
Ashish Deshmukh, son of former Congress state president Ranjeet Deshmukh, has been given a ticket from Savner in Nagpur district. Sitting MLA Bharti Lavekar has been re-nominated from the Versova seat in the western part of the metropolis.
The BJP’s third list features four women candidates, including Lavekar and Archana Patil-Chakurkar. The other two are Sneha Dube, fielded from Vasai in Palghar district, and Sai Prakash Dahake from Karanja in Washim.
In Ranchi, the BJP released its second list for the Jharkhand Assembly polls, naming Gamliyel Hembrom as its candidate from the Barhait seat against Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Hembrom contested from Barhait in the 2019 Assembly elections on an AJSU Party ticket, polling 2,573 votes and finishing in fourth place.
The BJP also announced the candidacy of Vikash Mahto from the Tundi seat.
Hemant Soren is the sitting MLA of the Barhait (ST) constituency in Sahibganj district. He won the seat, considered a JMM stronghold, by a margin of 25,740 votes over his nearest rival, Simon Malto of the BJP, in 2019.
Soren won both Dumka and Barhait in the December 2019 Assembly elections, choosing to retain the latter.
The BJP released its first list of 66 candidates for the Assembly elections on October 19. The party is contesting 68 of the 81 Assembly seats in the state, leaving the remaining seats for its allies.
The JMM has announced candidates for 43 of the 81 seats. In the 2019 elections, the JMM contested 43 seats, winning 30 and finishing second in five constituencies.
Elections to the 81-member House will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, with counting scheduled for November 23.
The INDIA bloc partners will contest the upcoming Assembly polls together, with the Congress and JMM competing for 70 of the 81 seats, while the remaining 11 will be contested by the RJD and Left parties.
In the opposition camp, the BJP will contest 68 seats, the AJSU Party 10, the JD(U) two, and the LJP (Ram Vilas) one.
In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats, wresting power from the BJP. The saffron party had secured 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, and the CPI (ML) and NCP one each, along with two independents.
Altogether, 2.60 crore electors, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh persons with disabilities (PwD), third-gender individuals, and senior citizens over 85 years of age, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections.
