MVA, Mahayuti to rein in rebels who filed nominations against official candidates | Mumbai news

One day after nominations for the assembly polls were filed by both official candidates and rebels, the top leaders of the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) began a damage-control exercise by urging the rebels to withdraw their nominations. In a series of meetings over two days, attempts were made to work out last-minute deals and resolve disputes in about a dozen seats in all.

At least a third of the 288 constituencies have seen rebels emerge from all the six major parties. Both camps have at least six constituencies where nominations have been filed by two parties of the same alliance. The alliance partners are now holding talks to resolve the clashes in these constituencies by revisiting the seat-sharing formula agreed upon among them.

While the scrutiny of nominations was conducted by returning officers, the last date for withdrawing candidature is November 4. The parties have time till that date to resolve their disputes over seats and get rebels to withdraw their nomination forms.

The confusion within the Mahayuti and MVA regarding the number of seats shared between them persisted. According to insiders, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Shiv Sena (UBT) fielded candidates without issuing certified lists, which has led to two alliance partners fielding candidates against each other.

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The BJP leadership held a high-level meeting late on Tuesday evening to sort things out. “The party has decided to persuade its rebels to withdraw their nominations,” said a BJP leader. “The party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde will speak to Gopal Shetty, who has filed his nomination from Borivali against party candidate Sanjay Upadhyay. Senior party leaders like Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil have been given the responsibility of speaking to the rebels over the next four days and making them withdraw their nomination forms.”

The leaders from the three ruling parties also met on Wednesday night to take a call in five constituencies where two parties from the ruling alliance have fielded their candidates. “The leaders discussed the withdrawal of candidates from these constituencies and are expected to arrive at a consensus on three to four such seats,” said a Shiv Sena leader. “The Ajit Pawar NCP and the Shinde Sena handed out AB forms in some constituencies before the seat-sharing talks were over. This is the reason the tally of the seat allocation does not add up to 288.”

In the MVA coalition, individual parties held parleys to get their rebels to withdraw their candidature. AICC in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala held a meeting with state Congress leaders

Speaking about the face-off between Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar) workers in Vidarbha and a few other constituencies including Aheri, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said, “We are trying to pacify the party workers and convince them to work for the alliance candidate. The differences that arose in the Lok Sabha elections have had a cascading effect in the assembly polls, but it will be sorted out.”

After the deadline for filing nominations ended on Tuesday, MVA leaders clarified that there would be no “friendly fight” and all the issues regarding double claims on constituencies would be resolved. “No friendly fights—we will discuss and sort out the issues,” emphasised Chennithala.

In the absence of a consensus on seat-sharing in the MVA till the final date for submitting nominations, not just the three major parties but also the smaller allies such as the PWP and CPI (M) have fielded candidates in constituencies claimed by their alliance partner. The list of such constituencies includes Alibag, Pen, Uran, Solapur city central, Pandharpur, Sangola and Paranda.

MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday declared that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would sort out the double-claim issue with alliance partners and also indicated that the party was likely to give up its claim on some seats in Raigad district. “The MVA will face the assembly elections unitedly,” he said. “We will resolve the issue of rebel candidates and double claims on seats through discussion. We are in talks with the PWP and are confident that we will reach some understanding on seats, including those in Konkan.”

However, the discussions between the three parties are expected to take place only two days later, after Diwali, said MVA insiders.