Maharashtra council polls: BJP announces nominees for 10 seats and bypoll

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its candidates for 10 of 16 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. The saffron party has picked Dr Rajiv Potdar as its nominee for the Nagpur constituency by-election.

Out of the total 17 seats, the BJP is contesting 11, ally Shiv Sena 4 and the NCP 2.

The list was cleared by the BJP's Central Election Committee for the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections and the bypoll scheduled this month, according to a party statement issued on 31 May .

Elections to 16 legislative council seats from the Local Self-Government bodies and a bypoll from the Nagpur self-government body are scheduled for June 18.

For the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli local authorities' constituency, the party has fielded Arun Lakhani, while Avinash Brahmankar has been nominated from Bhandara-Gondia. Former minister Pravin Pote Patil has been named as the BJP candidate from the Amravati constituency.

Lakhani's son is set to marry NCP (SP) leader and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule's daughter, Revati.

The party has selected Dhairyashil Kadam for the Sangli-Satara seat and former MLA Rajendra Raut for the Solapur constituency.

Former NCP (SP) leader and ex-junior minister Prajakt Tanpure has been nominated from Ahilyanagar, while Suhas Shirsat will contest from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna constituency. Tanpure joined the BJP a couple of days back. He is the nephew of NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil.

For the Nanded seat, the BJP has chosen Amar Rajurkar as its candidate. Rajurkar was previously an MLC from Congress and known as a confidante of Rajya Sabha member and former chief minister Ashok Chavan. Chavan, who was with Congress earlier, had joined the BJP and became a Rajya Sabha member before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Former Congress MLA and minister and lingayat community leader Basavraj Patil has been nominated from the Dharashiv-Latur-Beed constituency, while senior party leader Nandkishore Mahajan, close aide of minister Girish Mahajan, has been fielded from Jalgaon.

The elections are being held from local authorities' constituencies across Maharashtra, where members of local self-government bodies form the electoral college for electing members to the Legislative Council. These constituencies are spread across several districts and are considered politically significant because they reflect the party's strength among elected representatives in local bodies.

In the by-election to the Nagpur local authorities' constituency seat of the Legislative Council, the BJP has nominated Dr Rajiv Potdar. Potdar will get two years' tenure as the seat was vacated after sitting member Chandrashekhar Bawankule won the 2024 assembly election.

(With PTI inputs)