Nomination papers of six (some had filed multiple forms) aspiring contestants have been rejected during the scrutiny process conducted by electoral officers for the Mira Bhayandar (145) assembly constituency on Wednesday. With the rejections, 23 candidates have remained in the fray. While the fight for the seat will be among 23 remaining candidates including 14 independents,a fierce triangular contest between Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate-Muzaffar Hussain (Congress), Mahayuti (MY) -Narendra Mehta (BJP) and sitting legislator- Geeta Jain (Independent) is on the cards.
A cursory glance on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) official website reveals that apart from a sitting and two former legislators, former deputy president of the municipal council and three former municipal corporators have filed their nominations.
While the youngest candidate is aged 26 years, the senior most aspirant is a 70-year-old. Three female contestants are in fray. While most of the candidates are crorepatis (including immovable assets), a couple of independents in the race possess minimal assets, as per the affidavits submitted by them. From class V dropouts to graduates, candidates are from different educational backgrounds and professions. Six contestants have criminal cases registered against them.
However, many candidates including rebels are likely to opt out of the race, those who have filed multiple forms are likely to withdraw their additional nomination papers before 4 November- which is the last date for withdrawal of candidatures.
