Maharashtra council polls: NCP fields Satish Chavan from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates seat

The Sunetra Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party NCP on Monday named sitting Maharashtra Legislative Council member Satish Chavan as its candidate for the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates constituency in the upcoming biennial elections to the state legislatures upper houseNCP state president Sunil Tatkare issued an official letter announcing Chavans candidature for the constituency which was earlier known as the Aurangabad Graduates constituencyChavan has represented the constituency in the Legislative Council for three consecutive terms since 2008 according to the NCP His nomination gives the ruling party a candidate with previous experience representing the same electorateNCP backs threeterm sitting MLCChavan has been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council since 2008 after being elected from the graduates constituency The NCP has once again chosen him as it prepares for the upcoming contestThe constituency is among five seats for which biennial elections are being held to the Maharashtra Legislative CouncilThe NCP is part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance along with the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath ShindeThe alliance has worked out a seatsharing arrangement for the five constituencies going to polls Under the formula the BJP will contest three seats while the NCP and Shiv Sena will contest one seat eachMahayuti faces seatsharing tensionThe alliance however has faced differences over the distribution of seats particularly in the Pune Division Teachers constituencyThe BJP on Sunday announced Kaustubh Muralidhar Gawde as its candidate for the seat despite the Shindeled Shiv Sena also expressing interest in contesting from the constituencyShiv Senas Mangesh Chivte is also seeking the partys nomination and is expected to file his nomination papers creating a potential contest between two parties that are otherwise alliance partners in the state governmentThe development has exposed differences within the Mahayuti over candidate selection ahead of the Council electionsFive Legislative Council seats up for electionThe biennial elections are being held for five seats representing graduates and teachers constituencies across MaharashtraThe seats going to polls are Pune Division Graduates Nagpur Division Graduates Pune Division Teachers Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates and Amravati TeachersThese constituencies are part of the special electorate system used for certain Legislative Council seats with graduates and teachers registered as eligible voters depending on the constituencyVoting on October 23Polling for all five constituencies is scheduled to take place on October 23 while counting of votes will be held on October 27The contests are expected to be closely watched because the results will test the strength of the ruling alliance and opposition parties in constituencies with specialised electoratesFor the NCP Chavans nomination provides continuity in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates constituency where he has represented the electorate for three termsThe announcement also comes as the three Mahayuti partners work to finalise their respective campaigns and nominations in the five constituenciesNCPs candidature adds to election preparationsTatkares formal announcement clears the way for Chavan to seek another term from the graduates constituencyThe NCPs decision comes against the backdrop of the alliances 311 arrangement under which the BJP has been allocated three constituencies and the NCP and Shiv Sena one eachWhile the seatsharing formula was intended to avoid threeway contests between alliance partners the dispute over the Pune Division Teachers seat has raised questions about whether the arrangement will hold uniformly across all five constituenciesWith inputs from PTI