Mumbai: The Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra was left shocked after party legislator from Buldhana, Sanjay Gaikwad, unilaterally filed his nomination for the Buldhana Lok Sabha seat on Thursday.
Gaikwad has filed two nominations — one as an Independent and the other as the Shiv Sena nominee.
Gaikwad has demanded that the party should give him Form A and Form B, which are required to be submitted for the completion of the nomination papers. The forms denote that a political party has approved a certain candidate who should be allotted the election symbol of that party.
Gaikwad’s move came at a time when the Eknath Shinde faction is yet to seal its seat-sharing arrangements with the BJP and the NCP (AP). Moreover, the Buldhana seat is represented by the party’s sitting MP Prataprao Jadhav, and no decision has been taken on not renominating him from the seat yet.
Thursday marked the first day of nomination filing for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections at Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani constituencies in the western Vidarbha region and parts of Marathwada. The last date for filing nomination is April 4 for the polling to be held on April 26.
Eknath Shinde has staked his party’s claim on the Buldhana seat, where the Ajit Pawar-led NCP also wants to field its nominee.
CM Shinde is yet to make an official comment on Gaikwad’s move, while his party has adopted a wait-and-watch policy.
The Shinde faction has made a case for getting at least 13 seats in the seat-sharing agreement.
