Six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance and one nominee from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Thursday filed their nominations for the seven Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra that are set to fall vacant next month, reported news agency PTI.
Among those filing nominations were Union minister Ramdas Athawale, senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde, and Parth Pawar. Opposition candidate Sharad Pawar also filed his nomination for the lone seat expected to be won by the opposition alliance, reported PTI.
All the candidates submitted their nomination papers at the Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai on the final day for filing nominations, with the process remaining open until 3 pm.
BJP fields four candidates for Upper House elections
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded four candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra.
These include Vinod Tawde, Ramdas Athawale, former Nagpur mayor Maya Chintaman Ivnate and former MLC Ramrao Wadkute.
Devendra Fadnavis accompanied the BJP candidates during the filing of their nomination papers.
Tawde, who first won the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2014, served as the state’s education minister in the previous BJP-led government. Although he was denied a ticket in the 2019 Assembly elections, he later moved to national-level organisational work within the party and currently serves as its national general secretary.
Wadkute, once considered a close associate of Sharad Pawar in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party, earlier served as a member of the legislative council with Pawar’s support before joining the BJP. He belongs to the Hatkar community from the Marathwada region.
Ivnate previously made history as the first mayor of Nagpur from a tribal background.
Shiv Sena nominates Jyoti Waghmare
The Shiv Sena has nominated party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare for the Rajya Sabha election.
Her nomination came amid speculation that former Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale, a close aide of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, could be sent to the Upper House. Shewale had lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
NCP fields Parth Pawar
The ruling Nationalist Congress Party has fielded Parth Pawar as its candidate.
Parth Pawar had earlier contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Maval constituency but was defeated.
He was recently in the news following a controversial land deal in Pune’s Mundhwa area involving a 40-acre government land parcel worth nearly ₹300 crore. The land was reportedly sold to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth holds a majority stake, and the deal drew scrutiny after it emerged that the firm had been exempted from stamp duty. The transaction was later cancelled.
Parth’s mother, Sunetra Pawar, became the state’s deputy chief minister after the death of her husband, Ajit Pawar, in a plane crash on January 28. She continues to serve as a Rajya Sabha member and has not resigned from the position.
Sharad Pawar gets opposition backing
On the opposition side, 85-year-old Sharad Pawar has been nominated as the candidate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
The decision came after the Indian National Congress announced its support for Pawar on Wednesday. The announcement was made by AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala.
The declaration ended days of speculation over the opposition candidate, as all three MVA partners — Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) — had initially staked claim to the seat.
Voting scheduled for March 16
Polling for the Rajya Sabha elections will take place on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm, with counting scheduled to begin at 5 pm on the same day. Members of the legislative assembly form the electoral college for these elections.
The Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra whose six-year terms will end in April include Sharad Pawar, Ramdas Athawale, Fauzia Khan, Rajni Patil, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and BJP MPs Dhananjay Mahadik and Bhagwat Karad.
The Election Commission of India has announced polls for 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states.
Based on the current strength in the Maharashtra Assembly, the Maha Vikas Aghadi is expected to secure only one seat, while the Mahayuti alliance could win six of the seven seats unless cross-voting or strategic transfers occur under the single transferable vote system used in Rajya Sabha elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
