Nagpur graduates' seat: polling on October 23, Congress leans on Banjari, BJP undecided
Voting for the Nagpur graduates' constituency in the Legislative Council is set for October 23, with Congress likely to renominate Abhijit Banjari while BJP has yet to settle on a candidate.
The election date for the Nagpur graduates' seat in the Legislative Council has been set. Voting for the seat will take place on October 23, while candidates will file their nominations on October 6. The picture is almost clear on the Congress side, with the party's sitting MLC Abhijit Banjari widely expected to contest again. However, nothing has been decided yet within the BJP.
It had earlier been said that Sudhakar Kohle, who is overseeing voter registration work, had been assured the ticket from this seat. On this issue, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule clarified that the decision on who the candidate will be rests with state president Ravindra Chavan, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the party's parliamentary board. He also said that the necessary preparations would be made at the organisational level to win this seat, which has come to the party's share.
Within the BJP, the list of contenders for this seat keeps growing longer. Former MLA Sudhakar Kohle's name is currently in front, but Anil Sole, who has previously won this seat, has also hinted at his claim by showing strength at an event held recently on his birthday.
Besides this, Sandeep Joshi also appears to be pushing hard in this race. Some time ago, Joshi had stunned everyone by announcing his retirement from politics, but within a few days he reversed course and signalled that he would remain in politics. There is now talk that he may stake a claim for the Nagpur graduates' seat as well. His increased activity in recent times has fuelled this speculation. As usual, the BJP could also spring a surprise name as its candidate for this seat.
Meanwhile, Bawankule also spoke about the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR. He said there had long been a demand to remove from the voter list the names of people who have moved out of Maharashtra or permanently shifted elsewhere, the names of people who have died, and duplicate entries for the same person. The SIR process is necessary for this work.
He appealed to booth-level agents of all political parties, including Congress, to check the voter lists themselves and get any discrepancies corrected. Bawankule said merely making allegations would not work, and that workers of political parties should themselves come forward to verify the voter lists.
