Candidates rush to file nominations as deadline looms

While the Shiv Sena was slow off the blocks, with aspirants waiting for tickets till late on Monday, the Congress declared its first list of 87 candidates. The party has repeated only four names from the list of corporators elected during the last BMC polls

MUMBAI: Four former mayors, Vishakha Raut, Shraddha Jadhav, Milind Vaidya and Kishori Pednekar (all Shiv Sena-UBT); former opposition leader in the BMC, Ravi Raja, who quit the Congress to join the BJP; Tejaswini Ghosalkar, recently inducted into the BJP from the Sena (UBT); and BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban, were among those fielded by their respective political parties for the high-stakes, January 15 municipal elections.

Neil Somaiya, son of senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, has also been fielded for the election (Facebook)

While the Shiv Sena was slow off the blocks, with aspirants waiting for tickets till late on Monday, the Congress declared its first list of 87 candidates. The party has repeated only four names from the list of corporators elected during the last BMC polls.

Significantly, several politicians across parties secured tickets for relatives, leaving other aspirants in their parties fuming.

Fearing rebellion by aspirants who are being denied tickets, some parties are directly handing out nomination letters to the candidates. The deadline for filing nominations is 5pm on Tuesday.

The BJP informed 97 candidates of their nomination, most of whom filed their papers on Monday. Only 24 former corporators were given tickets. They were Shivkumar Jha, Pratibha Shinde, Vinod Mishra, Yogita Koli, Preeti Satam, Shrikalla Pillai, Sandeep Patel, Rohan Rathod, Anish Makwani, Ujjwala Modak, Hetal Gala, Swapna Mhatre, Prakash Gangadhare, Prabhakar Shinde, Neil Somaiya, Archana Bhalerao, Asha Marathe, Mahadev Shigvan, Rajshree Shirvadkar, Sheetal Desai, Ajay Patil, Akash Raj Purohit, Makarand Narvekar and Harshita Narvekar.

Neil Somaiya, son of senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, has also been fielded for the election.

With a tough election looming, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has fielded around 100 candidates so far, among them several senior party members who have served as corporators. They included four former mayors, including Kishori Pednekar was mayor when the term of the last civic house ended in 2017.

Thackeray also fielded sons and daughters of party MLAs and senior leaders. Among them were the party’s MP from Mumbai North-East, Sanjay Patil’s daughter Rajool; former MP Vinayak Raut’s son Gitesh; MLA Sunil Prabhu’s son Ankit; Versova MLA Harroon Khan’s daughter Sabah; former MLA Prakash Phatarphekar’s daughter Suprada; and former MLA Ashok Dhatraks son Ajinkya.

The Sena (UBT)’s list is likely to feature some Muslim candidates as well. The first list had two. Besides Sabah Khan, former corporator Changez Multani’s son Zeeshan was nominated. Multani is a recent entrant to the party.

Significantly, former mayor Kishori Pednekar waited for more than 12 hours before she was given a ticket as there was much discussion over her candidature.

Sena UBT leader Anil Parab and MLA Varun Sardesai were locked in a standoff over party’s nominee for Kherwadi. Parab wanted a ticket for Shekhar Waingankar, while Sardesai was rooting for Hari Shastri, son-in-law of the late Sena MLA Shrikant Sarmalkar, who had helped him during the assembly elections. Finally, Parab walked out of the meeting. The ticket was given to Hari Shastri.

Compared to other political parties, the Shiv Sena was slow off the blocks in handing out tickets. A large number of aspirants were waiting at Shinde’s residence for their nomination letters. Among those who were given party tickets were former MLA Yamini Jadhav, Mangesh Satamkar and Ameya Ghole. Former MLA Sada Sarvankar’s son Samadhan was also given a ticket. Party sources said a majority of candidates would be cleared late on Monday.

The MNS, contesting the polls along with the Sena (UBT), distributed more than 50 nomination forms on Monday. Mumbai city chief Yashwant Killedar was the first to secure a ticket.

MNS sources said the party is not satisfied with the seat distribution as they received just one seat each in their strongholds like Mahim, Worli and Sewri. The rest of the nominations will be given on Tuesday.

The Congress, on the other hand, declared its first list of 87 candidates on Monday. The list was declared a day after it forged an alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). The party has repeated only four names from the list of corporators elected during the last BMC polls. They are Qumar Jahan Siddiqui, Meher Mohsin Haider, Tulip Miranda and Asha Koparkar.

The party will contest 165 seats, allotting 62 seats with the VBA.

The first list of party candidates reveals the influence of MLA and former minister Aslam Shaikh, as three members of his family have been given tickets, in addition to two distant relatives. One of them is a former corporator.

The first candidate from his family is Aslam’s son Haider Shaikh, who will contest from ward 34. His sister, Qumar Jahan Siddiqui, a former corporator, will contest from ward 33. In the last BMC polls, she won from ward 34. Both 33 and 34 wards fall in Malad. The third candidate is Aslam’s son-in-law, Saif Ahad Khan, who will contest from ward 62 in Versova.

Distant relatives Ashraf Azmi and Saman Arshad Azmi also received Congress tickets. Ashraf is also a former corporator from the same ward. While Ashraf will contest from ward 165, Saman has been fielded from ward 167.

Former corporator Sufiyan Vanu also got two tickets for family. He himself will contest from ward 138 in Mankhurd and his wife Aysha will contest from ward number 179.

Congress MP Chandrakant Handore’s daughter Prajyoti has been fielded for the polls. She will contest from ward 140 in Mankhurd.

At least two former corporators managed to get tickets for their wives. Nasima Juneja, wife of Javed Juneja, will contest from ward 213 in Mumbadevi, and Sajida Khan, wife of Babbu Khan, will contest from ward 184 in Dharavi.

Meanwhile, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP released its second list of 27 candidates on Monday. So far, the party has fielded 64 candidates from 100 seats it has decided to contest in the BMC elections. It has fielded Manisha Rahate, who had won the polls as an undivided NCP candidate in 2017. She will contest from ward 119 in Bhandup.

The party also gave a ticket to Ashish Gadkari, a former BJP leader, who shifted to the NCP. He has been fielded from ward 154 in Chembur. Another name is Ashish Mane. He is the nephew of Shiv Sena chief and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s wife. Mane will contest from ward 159 in Kurla.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also declared its first list of seven candidates on Monday.