Nominations over, Maharashtra parties work to prevent rebellion

Mumbai: On the last day of filing of nominations, political parties across ideological lines burnt the midnight oil to prevent rebellion in their ranks even as there was confusion as to how many seats the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi were contesting. This is because on the last day of filing of nominations, the MVA and Mahayuti were still fighting with their respective allies for seats. In more than half a dozen constituencies, Mahayuti and MVA saw two 'official' candidates as two parties from the same grouping filed their nomination for the same seat.

On an approximate, the BJP is contesting on 154 seats, Shiv Sena on 82, NCP (Ajit) on 51 of the 288 seats. The Congress is contesting on 102 seats, the Sena (UBT) on 96, NCP (SP) on 87. The Samajwadi Party is contesting on two seats. In both the MVA and Mahayuti, the tally does not add up to 288 seats and the picture would be clear only on November 4 when the nominations are withdrawn.

By a conservative count, there are at least 40 rebel candidates in the fray. In Nagpur alone, there are five rebel Congress candidates.


There have been some high-profile rebel candidates in the fray. Former BJP MP Gopal Shetty is contesting from Borivali as a rebel candidate. Shetty was upset that he was denied a ticket which was given to Sanjay Upadhyay instead.

The party however did manage to convince its leader Atul Shah against contesting as a rebel candidate from Mumbadevi constituency.