The Maharashtra poll scene presents an interesting picture with candidates from varied backgrounds — from royal families, celebrities to fourth estate — trying to enter the Assembly’s hallowed corridors and shape the State’s destiny over the next five years.
A whopping 3,239 candidates are in the fray for 288 seats, polling for which will be held on October 21, but the main fight is likely to be between the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the opposition Congress-NCP combine.
Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale, a descendant of the family of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who recently switched from the NCP to the BJP, has been given ticket from Satara and is pitted against former party colleague Deepak Pawar.
Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale is a three-time MLA and his father Abhaysinhraje Bhosale had represented the seat several times. Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale’s cousin Udayanraje Bhosale is contesting the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll as the BJP candidate. Udayanraje Bhosale was earlier in the NCP.
Pune mayor and BJP leader Mukta Tilak, the wife of Shailesh Tilak, the great grandson of revolutionary freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, is in the fray from Kasba Peth in Pune. She is taking on Congress candidate Arvind Shinde.