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The BJP on Friday nominated former Congress MLA Rajhans Singh from Mumbai and ex-minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule from Nagpur for the upcoming biennial election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from local authorities’ constituencies.
The biennial election to the council from five local authorities’ constituencies for 6 seats, including Mumbai (which has 2 seats) and Nagpur, will be held on December 10. The other constituencies are Kolhapur, Dhule-cum-Nandurbar, and Akola-cum-Buldhana-cum-Washim.
The BJP has also announced its candidates for three other seats, where it has renominated one of the outgoing legislators.
Singh, who joined the BJP just before the 2019 polls, will be the candidate from one of the council seats falling vacant in Mumbai, where corporators will vote in the election, the party said in a statement.
There are 82 corporators of the BJP in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the number of votes needed for its candidate to get elected is slightly above 70.
Singh’s nomination is being seen as a move by the BJP to woo Hindi-speaking voters in Mumbai ahead of the BMC polls due in early 2022. The BJP will take on its former ally Shiv Sena, which has been controlling the civic body for more than two decades.
The BJP has decided not to continue with its sitting MLC Girish Vyas and instead fielded Bawankule, who was denied a ticket in the 2019 assembly polls, from the Nagpur local body seat.
Sitting MLC Amrishbhai Patel has been renominated by the party from the Nandurbar-cum-Dhule seat, the statement said.
In the Akola-cum-Buldhana-cum-Washim constituency, where corporators and councillors would get to vote in the election – the BJP has nominated its veteran leader Vasant Madanlal Khandelwal, it said Amal Mahadik is the BJP nominee from the Kolhapur local area seat.
Sitting members from these seats are due to retire on January 1, 2022.
