BJP announces 11 candidates for Maharashtra MLC elections as Thane prepares for polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finalized its list of 11 candidates for the upcoming Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections, ahead of the June 18 polls which will include the Thane local self-government constituency. The party released the names late Sunday night, marking a crucial step in the election process for 16 local body seats across Maharashtra and one bypoll in Nagpur.
The announcement of the candidate list arrived just ahead of the June 1 deadline for filing nominations. The 16 local self-government bodies constituencies going to the polls include Thane, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Sangli-Satara, Nanded, Yavatmal, Pune, Bhandara-Gondia, Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Nashik, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Amravati, Osmanabad-Latur-Beed, Parbhani-Hingoli, and Aurangabad-Jalna. While the BJP has fielded 11 candidates, the remaining five seats will be contested by its alliance partners, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Among the prominent names on the BJP's list is Prajakt Tanpure, who joined the party less than 24 hours before the announcement. Tanpure has been named as the party's candidate for the Ahilyanagar constituency. Another key candidate is Arun Lakhani, who will contest the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli seat. Lakhani is the to-be father-in-law of Revati Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) Member of Parliament from Baramati, Supriya Sule.
For the other constituencies, the BJP has nominated Avinash Brahmankar for Bhandara-Gondia, while Pravin Pote Patil will contest the Amravati seat. Dhairyashil Kadam has been fielded for the Sangli-Satara constituency, and Rajendra Raut will represent the party in Solapur. Suhas Shirsat is the candidate for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna, Amar Rajurkar will contest from Nanded, Basavraj Patil is nominated for Dharashiv-Latur-Beed, and Nandkishore Mahajan will stand from Jalgaon.
For the Nagpur constituency, the party has nominated Dr. Rajiv Potdar. While ten of the selected candidates will be contesting for seats that carry a full six-year term, the Nagpur seat is a bypoll election. This bypoll was triggered following the resignation of state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who stepped down after being elected to the state assembly in 2024.
Following the June 1 nomination deadline, the scrutiny of all nomination papers is scheduled to take place on June 2. Candidates will have until June 4 to withdraw their nominations if they choose to do so. The actual voting will take place on June 18, and the official counting of votes is scheduled to be completed on June 22.
