Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 20, 2024, 06:25 PM
Maharashtra Election 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, which includes the names of 99 candidates. In this list, many prominent leaders along with new faces have also been given a chance, which is making this time's election more interesting.Key candidates and new facesThe BJP has fielded Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West seat. Fadnavis is a strong leader of the party and his electoral performance is considered very important. At the same time, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has got a ticket from Kamathi. Apart from these, Vijay Kumar Gavit from Nandurbar, Anoop Aggarwal from Dhule, and Mangal Prabhat Lodha from Malabar Hills seat of Mumbai have been made candidates.Interestingly, BJP has also given a chance to many new faces this time. Sujaya Chavan, who is the daughter of MP Ashok Chavan, has been given a ticket from Bhokar. Similarly, Ganpat Gaikwad's wife Sulabha Gaikwad has been fielded from Kalyan, while Ganpat Gaikwad is currently in jail.Candidates on Mumbai and other major seatsOut of the total 36 seats in Mumbai, BJP has fielded its candidates on 14. These include Manisha Chaudhary from Dahisar, Ashish Shelar from Bandra West, Ram Kadam from Ghatkopar West, and Parag Alwani from Vile Parle. Apart from this, Rahul Narvekar, who has also been the speaker of the assembly earlier, has been made a candidate from Colaba.Status of sitting MLAsBJP has also given a chance to many sitting MLAs in its list. Like, Suresh Bhole from Jalgaon, Kashiram Pawara from Shirpur, and Akash Fundkar from Khamgaon have been given tickets again. Along with this, tickets of sitting MLAs have also been cut on many seats. Sitting MLA Ashwini Jagtap's ticket from Chinchwad has been cut and Shankar Jagtap has been given a chance. At the same time, Chandrashekhar Bawankule has been made the candidate in place of Tekchand Savarkar from Kamathi.Reasons behind ticket cancellationIn this election, tickets of three major sitting MLAs have been cancelled, which include Ganpat Gaikwad from Kalyan, Ashwini Jagtap from Chinchwad and Tekchand Savarkar from Kamathi. Ganpat Gaikwad's wife has been given the ticket in place of him, while new faces have been given a chance in place of Ashwini Jagtap and Tekchand Savarkar.ConclusionFrom this first list of BJP, it is clear that the party has tried to strike a balance between new and old leaders. The party has fielded new faces by making changes on some seats, while many old and strong leaders have been given a chance again. It will be interesting to see in the upcoming elections how effective this strategy of BJP proves to be.