05 June,2026 04:07 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Terming the conduct as serious indiscipline, the party said they had acted against organisational interests and were expelled with immediate effect. Representational pic
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee has expelled two of its legislative council election candidates and cancelled their primary membership after they withdrew their nominations without informing the party leadership.
According to official letters issued by the party, action has been taken against Sahebrao Kamble, candidate from the Yavatmal constituency, and Shailesh Agrawal, candidate from the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli constituency.
The letters, signed by Senior Vice-President Ganesh Patil on behalf of Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, state that both candidates were nominated by the party but later "kept the leadership in the dark" and withdrew their nominations, causing organisational difficulties.
Terming the conduct as serious indiscipline, the party said they had acted against organisational interests and were expelled with immediate effect.
The decision has been communicated to district Congress committees in Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli.
The party said the move was aimed at enforcing discipline during the legislative council election process and preventing similar incidents in future.
Maharashtra National Congress Party (NCP) chief Sunil Tatkare on Friday dismissed as "baseless and imaginary" the allegations levelled by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut that money changed hands to secure unopposed victories in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Elections, news agency PTI reported.
On Friday morning, Raut took to X to say that the "scramble" for unopposed elections and the drama of withdrawals on Thursday for that purpose cost at least "Rs 150 crore in a single day".
"The opposition party's horses themselves came to the market in Maharashtra, having set their own price for this -- there's an enormous amount of money involved," he said in the post.
Elections to 16 legislative council seats from local self-government bodies and a bypoll from the Nagpur local self-government body are scheduled for June 18, and votes will be counted on June 22.
The Mahayuti is set to win five of the 17 seats unopposed in this month's council elections, as opposition candidates in these constituencies withdrew their nominations before the deadline ended on Thursday. The ruling alliance also successfully persuaded rebels to back down on the last day of withdrawal of nominations.
Talking to reporters on the charges, Tatkare said, "The allegations of money being involved in opposition candidates withdrawing from the fray are baseless, imaginary and without any substance. Making such unfounded allegations has become Sanjay Raut's habit, and he has once again demonstrated it."
The senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader claimed that Opposition leaders had accepted defeat even before the legislative council elections.
(With PTI inputs)
