MLC Election 2024 in Maharashtra: The Congress on Tuesday expressed displeasure over Uddhav Thackeray’s “unilateral” announcement of Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates for the Legislative Council elections in the Konkan Graduates and Nashik Teachers constituencies and demanded their withdrawal.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole claimed that Thackeray selected the Congress-decided candidate for the Nashik teachers constituency without consulting alliance partners.
Biennial elections are to be held for four Legislative Council seats – Mumbai Graduates, Konkan Graduates, Mumbai Teachers and Nashik Teachers constituencies – as the term of the current members ends in July. Voting for these seats will be held on June 26 and the results will be declared on July 1.
Patole told reporters, “Uddhav Thackeray announced the candidates for the Konkan Graduates and Nashik Teachers constituencies without consulting us. We expected that the candidates and seats would be finalised only after consultation with the (Maha Vikas Aghadi) constituents.”
The Congress leader said he had asked Thackeray to withdraw the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates from both these constituencies.
Patole claimed that he tried to contact Thackeray when the candidates were announced, but the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief was out. He said, ‘I expected that the candidates would be announced after discussions.’
The alliance includes Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
According to Patole, the Congress had finalised Sandeep Gulve’s name for the Nashik Teachers constituency and informed Thackeray, but later without any discussion he inducted Gulve into the Shiv Sena (UBT) and made him their candidate.
He said, ‘All I want to say is that if we collectively decide on the seat-sharing formula for these four Legislative Council seats, it will become easier for all of us to win.’
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