Devendra Fadnavis, Amit Shah, Prime Minister Modi
Nomination for the Maharashtra Assembly elections is over. With this the political landscape has also become clearer to a large extent. To maintain its dominance, the BJP has been testing the ‘non-repetition theory’ formula in different states. The BJP has been defeating the anti-incumbency wave by canceling the tickets of its sitting MLAs in large numbers and replacing them with fresh faces. Not only Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh but also Haryana managed to win the political game with this strategy, but in the Maharashtra elections, the BJP did not follow the non-repetition formula and has only expressed confidence in as many old faces as possible. possible. . Similarly, the Congress has refrained from cutting the income of its MLAs.
With the nominations for the assembly elections over, it became clear which party fielded its candidates and under what strategy. The BJP and Congress have placed maximum bets on their sitting MLAs, while Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena have also expressed confidence in most of the leaders of their respective camps. In this way, everyone from the BJP to the Shiv Sena to the Congress has gone for old faces and fielded new faces only in the lost seats. In such a situation, the question arises: which party has canceled the tickets of how many of its sitting MLAs?
Entries of 18 MLAs canceled in Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, all parties, including the ruling party and the opposition, have rejected the candidatures of a total of 18 MLAs, with the BJP not giving tickets to only 8 of its 105 sitting MLAs. In this way, the BJP is getting 97 MLAs to contest elections again. The Congress has not given tickets to its five MLAs. The Congress canceled the tickets of those MLAs who had turned rebels and voted against it in the Rajya Sabha elections. Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Sharad Pawar-led NCP(S) have canceled the entries of two MLAs each, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has canceled the entry of one of its sitting MLAs and given a opportunity to all rebels. Similarly, Uddhav Thackeray has fielded all his MLAs in the electoral field.
BJP canceled entries of its 8 MLAs
In the 2019 assembly elections, 105 BJP MLAs won the elections, of which only 8 MLAs did not get tickets this time. BJP has made Sanjay Upadhyay its candidate by canceling the ticket of MLA Sunil Rane from Boriwali seat in Mumbai area. Similarly, instead of Arni MLA Sandeep Dhurve, Raju Todsam was named candidate, while from Umarkhed seat, sitting MLA Namdev Sasane’s ticket was cut and given to Kisan Wankhede. After canceling the candidature of MLA Dada Kenche from Arvi seat, the BJP has named Sumit Wankhede as its candidate. Sumit Wankhede has been rewarded for his closeness to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
After canceling the candidature of MLA Vikas Kumbhare from Nagpur Central seat, BJP has named Praveen Datke as its candidate. Praveen Datke is a BJP MLC and the party has fielded him for elections. Thus, the candidature of MLA Ashwini Jagtap from Chinchwad seat has been canceled and Shankar Jagtap has been named candidate in his place. Ashwini and Shankar are close relatives of each other. Thus, the BJP has nominated his wife Sulabha Gaikwad in place of jailed MLA Ganpat Gaikwad from Kalyan East seat. The BJP has made Shyam Khode its candidate by canceling the candidature of four-time MP Lakhan Malik from Washim seat.
Congress canceled entries of five MLAs
This time the Congress has canceled the entries of its five sitting MLAs. Among the MLAs whose tickets have been canceled by the Congress and new faces given a chance, Hemant Ogle has been named candidate in place of MLA Lahu Kanade from Shrirampur seat. Similarly, in Amgaon, the Congress canceled the ticket of Sahasram Korote and gave the ticket to Rajkumar Puram. MLA ticket cutter Shirish Chaudhary from Raver Assembly seat nominated his son Dhananjay Raver as candidate in his place.
The Congress has canceled the tickets of MLAs who have adopted a rebellious attitude, in which Sunil Deshmukh has been canceled from the ticket of MLA Sulabha Khodke from Amravati seat and Laikibhau Jadhav has been named candidate from Igatpuri seat by canceling the ticket. by MLA Hiraman Khoskar. . Both Khodke and Khoskar, rebel Congress MPs, have been fielded by Ajit Pawar of his NCP.
Sharad-Ajit-Shinde cut innings
NCP(S)-led Sharad Pawar has introduced new faces by fielding two of his MLAs. Sharad Pawar’s NCP has nominated his son Salil Deshmukh in place of Katol MLA and former home minister Anil Deshmukh. Similarly, after canceling the candidature of MLA Babanrao Shinde from Madha seat, Sharad Pawar named Abhijeet Patil as candidate. Similarly, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP canceled the tickets of two of its MLAs. By eliminating the candidature of MLA Manohar Chandrikapure from Arjuni Morgaon seat, BJP leader Rajkumar Badole became NCP candidate. By removing the candidature of MLA Balasaheb Ajbe from the Ashti seat, former MLC Suresh Dhas became a candidate.
Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena fielded former MP Rajendra Gavit from Palghar by canceling the ticket of sitting MLA Srinivas Vanga. Srinivas Vanga was one of those Shiv Sena MLAs who left Uddhav Thackeray and sided with Shinde. In such a situation, now, dissatisfied with the ticket cutting, they have disappeared somewhere. At the same time, tickets were given to all the MLAs who strongly supported Uddhav Thackeray and no ticket was cancelled.
BJP’s avoidance of non-repetition theory
In the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP has refrained from clipping tickets of its sitting MLAs and has placed bets only on old faces. The BJP may have managed to return to power in Haryana, but the protests had intensified due to the curtailment of the nominations of sitting MLAs. In Madhya Pradesh, betting on new faces instead of old faces may have been successful, but it backfired in the Lok Sabha elections. That is why the BJP has canceled the candidatures of only 8 MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Apart from this, we have maintained our trust in old and experienced leaders. One reason behind this is that in the last five years there have been a lot of political upheavals in Maharashtra, from the NCP to the Shiv Sena, which split into two factions. Many Congress MPs also rebelled, while no BJP MP defected. In such a situation, considering his loyalty, the BJP has expressed confidence in him in the elections.
