Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) Following intense negotiations and high-level meetings involving top BJP leadership, the ruling Mahayuti alliance has arrived at a seat-sharing arrangement for the 17 Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) seats. The election, which relies on elected members of local bodies as the electorate, will take place on June 18.

Monday is the last day for filing nominations.

Of the 17 seats, BJP will contest 11, Shiv Sena 4 and NCP 2.

The BJP took the lion’s share of the allocation after maintaining a firm stance on maximising its contest based on local body numerical advantages. Out of the 11 candidates, 10 are contesting for regular six-year terms, while one candidate has been fielded for the highly watched Nagpur bypoll seat.

The complete list of BJP nominees and their designated constituencies are — Ahilyanagar: Prajakt Tanpure (who officially switched over to the BJP leaving NCP SP); Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli: Arun Lakhani (businessman and prominent relative of NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule’s family); Nagpur (Bypoll Seat): Dr Rajiv Potdar (contesting the single seat vacated after state Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule transitioned to the State Assembly); Amravati: Pravin Pote Patil; Bhandara-Gondia: Avinash Brahmankar; Sangli-Satara: Dhairyashil Kadam; Solapur: Rajendra Raut; Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna: Suhas Shirsat; Nanded: Amar Rajurkar; Osmanabad-Latur-Beed: Basavraj Patil and Jalgaon: Nandkishor Mahajan.

Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde initially pushed for 7 seats but settled for 4 after interventions from top BJP national leadership. The party conceded Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna to the BJP in exchange for securing Nashik. The Sena announced its nominees — Thane (Shinde’s political home turf): Ravindra Phatak; Nashik: Narendra Darade; Parbhani: Saied Khan; and for Yavatmal, the nominee is Sheetal Sanjay Rathod, who is the wife of Minister Sanjay Rathod

The NCP, led locally by Sunetra Pawar, held firm on its core demands and successfully negotiated 2 seats. Notably, the party secured the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat (Konkan local authorities) amidst friction with local Shiv Sena leaders, potentially settling the dispute by leaving the Raigad Guardian Minister post to the Sena.

The two seats are: Pune (won after a tug-of-war with the BJP), where the party has fielded a businessman and a son of former MP Sanjay Kakde, Vikram Kakde. In Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (Konkan), the party has nominated former legislator Aniket Tatkare, who is the son of the state party chief and MP Sunil Tatkare.

–IANS

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