Mumbai, March 5 Six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance, including Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP leader Vinod Tawde, and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, are set to be elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
On the last day of filing nominations for the March 16 elections for seven seats from Maharashtra, only seven candidates filed their papers at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai on Thursday.
Pawar, 85, was not present at Vidhan Bhawan due to ill health. His daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule filed the papers on his behalf.
Besides Athawale and Tawde, the BJP fielded Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate.
Wadkute, who was once considered close to Sharad Pawar during his time in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party, hails from the Hatkar community in the Marathwada region.
He was then elected to the state Legislative Council with Pawar's support before joining the BJP.
Maya Ivnate is a former mayor of Nagpur, and has a tribal background.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena fielded party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare amid speculation that former Lok Sabha member Rahul Shewale might be nominated.
From the Nationalist Congress Party, former deputy CM Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections on Thursday.
With this, two members of the Pawar family are set to become Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra this time.
Parth's mother Sunetra Pawar, who is now deputy CM, is also a member of the Rajya Sabha.
