Sena Nagpur unit chief rebels; uncle-nephew fight in Katol

Shekhar Sawarbandhe, chief of the Nagpur city and district unit of Shiv Sena, today filed nomination as an Independent from Nagpur-South seat after he was denied the party ticket.
A total of 312 candidates have filed nominations for 12 Assembly seats in the district.
Ashish Deshmukh, son of former Maharashtra Congress chief Ranjeet Deshmukh, filed nomination as BJP candidate from Katol constituency, where his main opponent would be his uncle, NCP leader and minister in the outgoing government Anil Deshmukh.
Ashish had lost to the Congress candidate in Saoner in 2009 on a BJP ticket. He sought ticket from the same seat this time but was offered neighbouring Katol in Nagpur district.

Two-term sitting Congress MLA from Nagpur-South Dinanath Padole, who was denied ticket this time, has switched over to NCP and filed nomination. His main opponent will be former minister Satish Chaturvedi, a five-term MLA.
Sameer Meghe, the son of former Congress MP Datta Meghe, has replaced sitting BJP MLA from Hingana Vijay Ghodmare as the saffron party's candidate.

Talking to PTI, Sawarbandhe blamed the Sena leadership for denying him a ticket and preferring Kiran Pandav, son of former Congress MLC Krishnarao Pandav.
Prominent candidates who filed the nominations today, the last day, were Congress's Nitin Raut (Nagpur North), Abhijit Wanjari (East), Satish Chaturvedi (South), Praful Guddhe Patil (South-West) and Vikas Thakre (West).

Minister of state and a close aid of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Rajendra alias Baba Mulak, has been fielded against BJP's sitting MLA Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Kamptee.
NCP's Pragati Patil (Nagpur West), Vikas Khandekar (North), Kamil Ansari (Central), Dinanth Padole (South), Dilip Pankule (South West) and Duneshwar Pethe (East) filed papers today.
Shiv Sena has fielded Ajay Dalal (Nagpur East), Vikas Ambhore (North), Kiran Pandav (South), Satish Harde (Central) and Panju Totwani (South West).