Yesterday was the last day of nomination. Till now a total of 150 rebels have stood up which can become a headache for both the alliances. Now only 6 days are left to convince these rebels because November 4 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
It is believed that only the alliance with the least number of rebels will take the lead. At present no one seems to be getting much success in this endeavor. The BJP-led Mahayuti and the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi say they have announced candidates for all 288 seats.
286 MVA candidates applied
According to the data received so far, 286 MVA candidates have applied. These include 103 candidates from Congress, 96 from Uddhav Sena and 87 from NCP-Sharad Pawar. Now talking about Mahayuti, a total of 284 nomination forms have been filed from this group. Now if we talk about Mahayuti, both its parties are face to face on 5 seats. Apart from this, candidates could not be given for two seats. Due to which BJP is also facing difficulties.
Gopal Shetty is contesting as a rebel on seats like Borivali, while the party has fielded Sanjay Upadhyay. Similarly, Chhagan Bhujbal's nephew Sameer has filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Nandgaon seat.
Congress and Uddhav Sena are also face to face on many seats.
Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has already fielded candidates from here and MLA Suhas Kande is in the fray. Senior leaders of both alliances believe that defeating the rebels will be a challenge. However, both sides are saying that we are trying to persuade the rebels.
November 4 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. Only then can one tell which group is likely to suffer losses and how many rebels have landed. Nawab Malik has resigned from Shivajinagar seat, this is also a problem. Apart from this, Uddhav Sena and Congress candidates are face to face on many seats including Solapur West.