Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
- All six Congress candidates from the city file papers
- NCP also fields candidates from all six constituencies in city including rebel Congress MLA Dinanath Padole
- Shiv Sena fields five candidates, finds no candidate in North Nagpur; Shekhar Sawarbandhe rebels and files nomination as Independent
- Sudhakar Kohale is BJP candidate from South Nagpur
By Dheeraj Fartode
Saturday, the last day of filing nomination papers for Legislative Assembly elections, saw a heavy rush as 312 candidates of different parties and their supporters streamed in one after another. The elements of curiosity and surprise were added to the nomination process, as after snapping of years-old ties, BJP and Shiv Sena as well as Congress and NCP have fielded their candidates and rebels from other parties.
Congress took out a mega rally to boost the morale of party workers while its candidates from six constituencies in city filed their nomination papers. After being dropped by Congress, South Nagpur MLA Dinanath Padole filed nomination papers from NCP for the same seat. Shiv Sena District Chief Shekhar Sawarbandhe, who, too, was dumped by the party, filed nomination as Independent candidate.
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| Congress candidates Vikas Thakre, Satish Chaturvedi, Anis Ahmed, Dr Nitin Raut, Abhijit Wanjari along with former MP Vilas Muttemwar. |
Strong police bandobast was deployed at Collector office and in Civil Lines area to maintain public peace. Congress candidates EGS Minister Dr Nitin Raut (North Nagpur), former Minister Anees Ahmed (Central Nagpur), former Minister Satish Chaturvedi (South Nagpur), former Mayor Vikas Thakre (West Nagpur), senior corporator Prafulla Gudadhe (South-West Nagpur), Abhijit Wanjari (East Nagpur), first garlanded the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Samvidhan Square and boarded in an open jeep along with former MP Vilas Muttemwar. Thousands of Congress workers accompanied the rally, which was a show of strength of the party in the city. As one senior Congress leader put it, the rally was taken out to boost the morale of party workers who were nervous after rout in Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.
As the rally reached District Collector office, cops faced tremendous pressure while maintaining order as Congress workers crossed the barricades to enter Tehsil Office.
After filing nomination papers, Dr Nitin Raut said that Congress enjoyed huge support in the Second Capital and the party leaders were confident of winning all six Assembly seats with impressive margin. Commenting on split of Congress-NCP alliance, Dr Raut said, “NCP does not have organisational network in the city. NCP will never affect our performance in the election.” He was personally against alliance with NCP, he added.
Kohale is BJP candidate
from South Nagpur
The suspense over who would be BJP candidate from South Nagpur constituency was over on Saturday with NMC Water Works Committee chief Sudhakar Kohale filing nomination papers.
Kohle filed nomination in the afternoon hours in presence of former MP Banwarilal Purohit, Mayor Pravin Datke, MLC Anil Sole, Chhotu Bhoyar and other BJP leaders. Pramod Manmode of Shiv Sangram, a new ally of BJP, was keen on contesting the election from South Napgur, as BJP candidate. With Kohale getting BJP ticket, Manmode filed nomination papers as Independent candidate from the constituency. However, in his affadavit Manmode mentioned that he was candidate of MNS. Interestingly, from South Nagpur constituency Gunwant Giradkar also filed nomination as MNS candidate.
Sawarbandhe rebels, files
papers as Independent
Denied the party ticket, Shiv Sena district chief Shekhar Sawarbandhe filed nomination papers as Independent candidate from South Nagpur constituency. Shiv Sena has fielded Kiran Pandav from South Nagpur, much to the discomfort of Sawarbandhe.
On Saturday, Shiv Sena candidates including Kiran Pandav (South Nagpur), Ajay Dalal (East Nagpur), Satish Harde (Central Nagpur), Panju Totwani (South-West Nagpur), Vikas Ambhore (West Nagpur). Shiv Sena has fielded its candidates from five out of six constituencies in city, but failed to find any candidate from North Nagpur.
Refused ticket by Congress,
Padole is NCP candidate
Dinanath Padole, who represented South Nagpur constituency as Congress MLA till a few days ago, switched over sides and joined NCP. On Saturday, he filed nomination papers as NCP candidate from South Nagpur constituency.
Meanwhile, NCP has fielded its candidates from all six Assembly constituencies in the city. NCP candidates other than Padole are as follows: Pragati Patil (West Nagpur), Vishal Khandekar (North Nagpur), Haji Kamil Ansari (Central Nagpur), Duneshwar Pethe (East Nagpur), and former corporator Dilip Pankule (South-West Nagpur).
MNS fields four candidates from city
MNS have fielded four candidates from city for assembly polls. Prashant Pawar had filed nomination papers on Friday and other candidate, who have filed nominaiton on Saturday are Ritesh Meshram (North Nagpur) and Shravan Khapekar (Central Nagpur).
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