NCP (SP) expels Nitesh Karale over independent Nagpur graduates' bid; he breaks down

Polling for the Legislative Council elections will be held on Friday, October 23. Five seats in the state will go to the polls, two of them teachers' constituencies and three graduates' constituencies. Ahead of this, Nitesh Karale, who filed his nomination as an independent candidate from the Nagpur graduates' constituency, has been expelled from the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).

The Maha Vikas Aghadi has given its official candidature in this constituency to Abhijit Wanjari. Despite this, Karale rebelled and kept his independent nomination in the field. For this reason the party expelled him for six years. After the party's action, Karale became emotional and was in tears.

After the expulsion, Karale put forward his side. He said he had held 110 meetings for the party and that the public would now answer through their votes. Karale said he learnt of the expulsion through the media. According to him, he accepts the party's decision, but the action is wrong. He said that in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections he campaigned for the party across the state and neglected his classes to do so.

Karale also said he suspected that the Congress might be pressuring the party. He added that voters would show their strength in tomorrow's polling.

Voting for the five Legislative Council seats in the state will be held tomorrow. The seats are the Nagpur graduates', Pune graduates', Pune teachers', Marathwada graduates' and Amravati teachers' constituencies. Votes will be counted on October 27. The whole state is now watching which way voters will decide.