Legislative Council polls: Mahayuti strain over Pune Teachers seat as BJP, Shinde Sena stake claim

Fresh differences surfaced within Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance on Sunday ahead of the Legislative Council elections after the BJP announced its candidate for the Pune Division Teachers constituency, which Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has also claimed.

The BJP earlier in the day announced three candidates for the biennial elections, fielding Kaustubh Muralidhar Gawde from the Pune Division Teachers seat.

Shiv Sena's Mangesh Chivte, meanwhile, said Shinde had directed him to file his nomination from the constituency.

"Our demand was that Pune Teachers seat should go to the Shiv Sena and Graduates constituency to the BJP. But that has not happened," Chivte said.

He said he had been receiving pressure from teachers to contest the election and that Shinde had asked him to file his nomination papers.

"The decision (on whether to contest polls) will be taken by him (Shinde) later," Chivte said.

Chivte has been preparing for the election from the constituency for some time.

Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant said the party continued to stake its claim to the Pune Teachers seat and identified Chivte as its candidate.

"We still hold claim to the Pune Teachers constituency and our candidate is Mangesh Chivte. If he fills the form then it will be as a Shiv Sena candidate," Samant said.

He said the BJP candidate would also file nomination papers, following which Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Shinde would take an appropriate decision.

Shiv Sena minister Bharat Gogawale also backed Chivte, saying discussions were underway on his candidature.

Gogawale said Chivte had been working in the constituency and there was nothing wrong with the party staking a claim to the seat.

Biennial elections are being held for the Pune Division Graduates, Nagpur Division Graduates, Pune Division Teachers, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates and Amravati Teachers constituencies.

Polling will be held on October 23 and counting of votes will take place on October 27.