Maharashtra assembly elections 2024: Rebel Congress leader Mukhtar Shaikh withdraws from polls, to support MVA's candidate in Pune

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Rebel Congress leader Mukhtar Shaikh has withdrawn his nomination as an independent from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency and lent support to the official Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate Ravindra Dhangekar for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024, reported news agency ANI.

He said that he had received several calls of reassurances from Congress' leadership, which led to the withdrawal of his nomination.

"I have decided to take the nomination back as an independent candidate. I had received calls from State President Nana Patole, in-charge Ramesh Chennithala and MP Syed Naseer Hussain, that there should be a secular force. After their assurance, I took the decision and took back my nomination. I will also support and work for the MVA Candidate Ravindra Dhangekar in Kasba Assembly constituency," he told ANI.

Shaikh further claimed that he wanted to have Muslims represented in Pune and that he had been assured by party leaders of getting the nomination from his constituency before.

"The reason for filling the form earlier was that there was a demand that in the whole city there needs to be a candidate to represent Muslims. I heard that and went ahead. For 40 years I have been seeing, on how I have been working for the Congress, they had assured me from before that the candidature would be given to you. But later on, I was not given the candidature, but people told me that I should fight, so I filed my nomination," he told ANI.

He further said that he will continue to work for the party in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 and after that too.

The Kashba Peth assembly contest will mainly be between Bharatiya Janata Party's Hemant Narayan Rasane, Congress' Ravindra Hemraj Dhangekar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) Ganesh Somnath Bhokre.

Monday is the last day of withdrawing nominations. The Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 is a hotly contested battleground between two major alliances, the ruling Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Mahayuti alliance comprises of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar).

MVA is an alliance between Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar).

(With inputs from ANI)