Kin of Maharashtra CM, two ministers elected unopposed in local body polls, Opposition cries foul

After relatives of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and two other ministers in the state government were elected unopposed in the local body polls, the Opposition has alleged that the BJP used money power and threats to get other candidates to withdraw from the fray. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnaviss cousin Alhad Kaloti was elected unopposed in the Chikhaldara Nagar Panchayat elections. Surprisingly, not one, but all nine opposition candidates withdrew their nomination at the last moment. Maharashtra Congress leader and former minister Yashomati Thakur alleged that CM Fadnavis misused the government machinery to get his relative elected unopposed. She alleged that the ruling party used money and threats to force other candidates to withdraw. BJP minister Girish Mahajan, who is close to CM Fadnavis, also succeeded in getting his wife Sadana Mahajan elected unopposed as president of the Jamner Nagar Panchayat. Interestingly, one candidate had filed her nomination but it was cancelled during scrutiny, while the other two candidates from the NCP SP and Congress surprisingly withdrew their nominations at the eleventh hour. In another incident, in the Dondhacya Nagar Panchayat elections in Dhule district, BJP minister Jaikumar Rawals mother Nayan Kuwar Rawal was elected unopposed along with 26 other councillors. Sharyu Bavaskar had filed his nomination against the BJP minister's mother, but it was cancelled, citing technical lapses in his form and unpaid dues of Nagar Panchayat. Bavaskar approached the court, but to no avail. NCP SP MLA Rohit Pawar congratulated the elected members, but raised serious questions over this pattern, calling it a 'family welfare scheme'. He asked how only BJP ministers' relatives are getting elected unopposed and not others. BJP is the party that is against dynastic politics, but the same party's leaders' relatives are getting elected unopposed. This is nothing but a family welfare scheme for BJP leaders' family members. The irony is that the people who worked to expand the BJP were deprived of getting the ticket even in the local body polls, Pawar claimed.