Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray will have his task cut out on his electoral debut in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha polls in Maharashtra as Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena candidate and incumbent MLA Sada Sarvankar on Monday decided not to withdraw his nomination from the Mahim constituency. Amit Thackeray has been pitted against three-time MLA Sarvankar and Mahesh Sawant, who has been fielded by Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).The MNS is not a part of the Mahayuti, which comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. However, the BJP leaders said they wanted to back Amit Thackeray and asked Sarvankar to withdraw in Mahim.November 4 was the last day of withdrawal of nominations. Sarvankar said he was asked by Chief Minister Shinde to meet Raj Thackeray and accept his decision no matter what.Sarvankar on Monday noon had gone to meet Raj Thackeray at the latter’s Shivaji Park residence in Dadar. However, according to the MLA, Raj refused to meet him and conveyed that he was not interested to have discussions and the Shiv Sena leader was free to contest against his son.“I have the highest regard for Raj Thackeray. I would have followed his orders had he met me once. But now I am firm on my decision to contest as a Mahayuti candidate and I will work for the people of Mahim,” Sarvankar said.Meanwhile, in a relief to the BJP, senior party leader and former MP Gopal Shetty has agreed to withdraw his nomination as a rebel candidate from Borivali seat. He had filed his papers last week after the BJP gave ticket to Sanjay Upadhyay from the seat. As Shetty did not agree to withdraw, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde flew from Delhi to Mumbai to hold discussions with him, after which he finally bowed to the pressure from the party.However, even after withdrawing his nomination on the deadline day, Shetty expressed displeasure over Maharashtra BJP’s ‘decision makers’. After pulling out of the fray, Shetty said, “My anger was not against the BJP party or leadership. What really upset me was the system in which decisions were taken without adequately consulting the workers.”Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis praised Gopal Shetty for “setting an example as committed Karyakarta” who works for the organisation’s interest.The Congress received a shock as in a dramatic turn of events in Kolhapur, Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati, who was party’s official candidate, withdrew her candidature and supported the party rebel.Madhurima Raje is the wife of former MLA Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, the son of Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj, the Congress MP from Kolhapur. The Kolhapur royal family are descendants of iconic Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and legendary social reformer Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj.The Congress had initially nominated Rajesh Latkar from Kolhapur North. However, he was replaced by Madhurima Raje. Latkar, however, remained in the fray as an Independent. “There were no options left. We have decided not to contest,” said Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj.Madhurima’s withdrawal left senior Congress leader Satej Patil fuming and expressed his open displeasure over the development. He was heard telling her that she should have informed the party earlier that she didn’t want to contest and he was being made scapegoat. Congress now has no official candidate in Kolhapur North. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena also persuaded Swikriti Sharma, wife of former ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma, to withdraw from the Andheri East seat, where the party candidate Murji Patel is contesting against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Rutuja Latke.CPI(M) withdrew from Nasik West seat after discussion with MVA leaders. Party’s Maharashtra Secretary Uday Narkar said that the party has decided to withdraw to avoid splitting of anti-government votes.Rebel Congress leader Mukhtar Shaikh has withdrawn his nomination as an independent from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency and lent support to the official Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. He said that he had received several calls of reassurances from Congress’ leadership, which led to the withdrawal of his nomination.An official from the ECI said that after the deadline for nomination withdrawal ended, there were 4,140 candidates in the fray for the 288 Assembly seats. “After the verification of nominations, 7,078 applicants were found to be eligible to contest the Assembly election. Out of them, 2,938 applicants withdrew their nominations before the deadline for the withdrawal,” the official said.The voting for the 288 Maharashtra Assembly seats will take place in a single phase on November 20 and the results will be announced on November 23.
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