Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray turns up heat on party rebels

With 367 candidates withdrawing from the fray on the last day for withdrawal of nominations, 2,276 candidates are now gearing up to battle it in the civic electoral arena. In a last ditch effort to curb defection, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray threatened rebels from his party of action if they did not relent. 

“I request all those who have filed nominations against official candidates to withdraw. Those who have not withdrawn their candidature may hold a grudge against the person, but should not harbour any bitterness towards the part. If they think otherwise, they will be ousted from the party,” said the statement issued by the Sena chief on social media.

However, Thackeray’s strong-worded appeal did not yield much results as rebels from seats like Dadar and Parel remained undeterred. 

Mahesh Sawant is up against Samadhan Sarwankar in Dadar. In Parel, Shiv Sena rebel Nanvnath Karandekar has not withdrawn against the official candidate.

Meanwhile, there are two writ petition filed against the returning officers, while at least eight complaints have been filed on the last day of nominations. The chaos was due to the online registration of candidates before submitting their forms to the returning officer. However, a number of several candidates could not get their hands on the last page of  the affidavit which was necessary for candidates to submit.