Sangli district bank polls: consensus on 19 of 21 seats, direct contests in Jath and Kavathemahankal

A political consensus has been reached on the sharing of seats in the elections to the Sangli District Central Co-operative Bank. As a result, the way is clear for 19 of the 21 seats to be won unopposed. Candidates will face each other only in the society constituencies of Jath and Kavathemahankal.

Meetings of senior leaders were held from this morning at the bungalow of the Zilla Parishad president for the seat-sharing talks, and discussions continued through the day. The understanding between the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the BJP has averted a clash on most seats.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil, MP Vishal Patil, Rituraj Deshmukh, Prithviraj Patil, Rahul Mahadik, Vishwajeet Kadam, Samrat Mahadik, Indris Naikwadi, Mahendra Lad and Amol Babar were present at the meeting. Senior leaders of the BJP, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress and the Shiv Sena also attended. The seat-sharing formula was settled through talks among leaders of the different parties.

Under the formula, of the bank's 21 seats, the BJP will get four, the Nationalist Congress Party seven and the Congress six. The Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party has been given one seat and the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena three. The total comes to 21.

There had been apprehension of a tussle among the parties for control of the bank. But the senior leaders sat together and tried to resolve the knots over seats, and a possible clash on many seats was averted.

The 19 candidates set to be elected unopposed are: Amol Babar, Vishwajeet Kadam, Mahendra Lad, Devraj Patil, Viraj Naik, Tanaji Patil, Annasaheb Kore, Sumantai Patil, Rahul Mahadik, Prithviraj Patil, Satish Deshmukh, Randhir Naik, K. D. Kamble, Vaibhav Vilasrao Shinde, Pooja Vishal Patil, Varsha Vikram Sawant, Renuka Satyajit Deshmukh, Sambhaji Kachare and Nitin Honrao.

In the Kavathemahankal society constituency, former minister Ajitrao Ghorpade and T. V. Patil will contest against each other. In the Jath society constituency, BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar and Vinod Pawar will face each other. Political circles in the district are watching this contest closely.

Although most seats will be won unopposed, the fight in these two constituencies has kept political interest in the election alive. The results in both are considered important.