Will seek consensus so that contest is avoided: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said all efforts would be made to ensure the bypolls to Baramati and Rahuri Assembly seats are held unopposed through consensus, but asserted the BJP was ready if it comes down to a contest.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced during the day that bypolls to Baramati in Pune and Rahuri in Ahilyanagar, necessitated by the deaths of then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and BJP legislator Shivaji Kardile, respectively, will be held on April 23.

Addressing a press conference for the announcement of the poll schedule, Kumar said votes will be counted on May 4. Speaking to reporters before the announcement by the Election Commission of India, Fadnavis said, “All attempts would be to arrive at a unanimous decision so that elections are held unopposed. However, if an election is imposed on us (BJP-led Mahayuti), we are prepared for a contest as well.”

While NCP stalwart Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28, Kardile died of a cardiac arrest on October 17 last year at the age of 66.

Bypolls are scheduled for eight assembly seats across the country. While five seats in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura will go to polls on April 9, the date is April 23 for one seat in Gujarat and two (Baramati and Rahuri) in Maharashtra.

The other six seats are Ponda in Goa, Bagalkot and Davanagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura and Umreth in Gujarat.