Delay in candidate announcements sparks anxiety before Kolhapur Municipal Corporation elections

Kolhapur: Most political parties are yet to announce their candidate lists for the Jan 15 Kolhapur Municipal Corporation election, with just two days left to file nomination papers. This is causing anxiety among aspiring contenders.Except for the 48 Congress candidates and the 21 nominees of the Rajarshi Shahu Aghadi, comprising Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Aam Aadmi Party, and NCP (SP), other parties have not finalised their slates.The deadline for filing nomination papers is Dec 30. Scrutiny will be held on Dec 31, and the withdrawal deadline is Jan 2. The final candidate list and symbol distribution will take place on Jan 3. Voting is scheduled for Jan 15.Till Dec 30, a large turnout is expected as 1,816 nomination forms have been sold, but only 20 have been filled so far. Many candidates are expected to file their papers on Monday and Tuesday.Satish Kulkarni, an aspirant from Ward 8, said, "I am waiting for my name to be announced in the Mahayuti list by Monday. I have already taken the nomination form. If my name is not announced, I will contest the election as an independent candidate by filing the nomination on Tuesday, the last date."Late on Sunday night, Congress will announce its second list of 26 candidates, while Shiv Sena (UBT) will unveil its seven nominees to contest on behalf of MahaVikas Aghadi, comprising Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT). A third-front alliance, Rajarshi Shahu Aghadi, has been formed by Aam Aadmi Party, NCP (SP) and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi; it will jointly contest all 81 seats of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation.The delay in the Mahayuti parties announcing their lists is due to internal clashes between Shiv Sena and BJP over seat allotment. NCP is likely to remain in the Mahayuti with 14 seats allocated to it.