Sena (UBT) declares 20 more candidates
Shiv Sena (UBT) announced 20 candidates for assembly polls, including for disputed constituencies. Uddhav Thackeray honored late leader Ghosalkar's family.
Mumbai:
Shiv Sena (UBT) on Saturday declared 20 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls, including for constituencies which were under dispute with the Congress such as Versova, Ghatkopar West and Byculla. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also promised a ticket to the family of deceased party leader Abhishek Ghosalkar, who was shot dead during a Facebook livestream in February this year.
Fifteen candidates were declared through the party mouthpiece Saamana on Saturday. Prominent names in the list included Anil Gote from Dhule city, former Mumbai mayor Shradha Jadhav from Wadala, former MLA Yogesh Gholap from Deolali and Sandesh Parkar from Kankavli against BJP MLA Nitesh Rane.
Later in the afternoon, Shiv Sena (UBT) declared the names of four more candidates through social media. These included Harun Khan from Versova, Sanjay Bhalerao from Ghatkopar West and Sandip Naik from Vile Parle and Pawan Jaiswal from Digras.
Anil Gote, who has been nominated from Dhule city, was arrested in connection with the Telgi fake stamp paper scam earlier. He won the assembly election from Dhule city on a BJP ticket in 2014 but left the party later due to differences with the BJP state leadership. He contested the 2019 assembly poll from the same constituency as an independent but lost.
On Friday too, Thackeray had announced candidates for seats which were under dispute with the Congress. Manoj Jamsutkar was fielded from Byculla, Vishal Barbate from Ramtek, Harshad Kadam from Patan, Ranjit Patil from Paranda and Manohar Bhoir from Uran.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday evening gave the AB form, a proof of official candidature for any political party, for the Dahisar assembly constituency to the family of deceased party leader Abhishek Ghosalkar.
The party felt that since the sitting MLA of Dahisar is BJP’s Manisha Chaudhary, a woman, Abhishek Ghosalkar’s wife Tejasvee Ghosalkar would be an appropriate candidate. But Abhishek’s father and former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar too wanted to contest the polls and requested the party for a ticket.
Speaking to the media after meeting Thackeray, Vinod Ghosalkar said, “There is no dispute in the family. It’s the greatness of Uddhav Thackeray that he gave the AB form to our family and also gave us authority to decide the name of candidate.” The family decided that Vinod Ghosalkar would contest the poll. Later in the evening, Thackeray declared him the candidate from Dahisar.
Thackeray also gave the AB form to Bhairulal Choudhary -Jain from Malbar hill constituency.