Teacher’s Constituency Election: Suspense remains in BJP and Congress regarding candidates

Nagpur: Even though the State Election Commission has announced that the elections for the teachers’ constituencies are going to be held on the date of January 30, The major parties have not yet officially announced their candidates.

While BJP’s two-time winning candidate NG Gunner has already filed his nomination on behalf of the Maharashtra State Teachers Council (MRSP). The Congress is yet to announce its support to the Shikshak Bharti candidate with whom it had tied up in the 2016 elections. However, leaders of both these parties have told TOI that they will finalize their candidates within a few days.

The BJP had called a meeting on Friday morning to decide whether to support Gunner or field its candidate. It also launched its Shikshak Aghadi to contest elections for teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies. However, in the meeting chaired by State BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the candidate has not been decided at all till the evening. BJP leaders have also said that Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also reached and joined them.

Many BJP people, including Shiksha Manch coordinator Kalpana Pandey and Shikshak Morcha chief Mahadev Shivankar, are keen to contest the elections.

MPCC President Nana Patole has said that they have not finalized the candidate yet and may take a decision within about two to three days. In 2016, the party also fielded its own candidate, who was defeated by Gunner.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is going to be consulted

BJP spokesperson Archana Dehankar has also said that the issue of the candidate’s name did not come up at all in their meeting.

BJP leaders, however, have also reiterated that though they had extended full support to Ganar in the last nearly two terms, this time the leadership is inclined towards fielding its candidates. Even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is going to be consulted before finalizing the candidates, They said. The party may also opt for an OBC candidate this time to atone for the mistake it made during the graduates’ constituency elections last year, which it lost for the first time in nearly five decades.

Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad had also announced its support to veteran Ganar and was waiting for the response of the saffron party for a long time.

More than 39 thousand voters have been registered for vote.

According to collectorate officials, there has been an increase of about 4,834 voters in this election as compared to the 2016 elections. More than 39,391 voters have registered for the process this year. The registration process for the voters started on the date of 1st October and was closed on the date of 9th December. Those who had completed about three years in this educational field were made eligible to vote.

Also Read: 6 months later, sewers overflow in areas of west Nagpur, posing a health hazard