Rashmikant Yadav, who claimed to be Athavle’s personal assistant, accused the MCA officials of not accepting their leader’s nomination for the October 18 polls. According to an MCA official, Athavle was not a representative of any MCA-affiliated club. “If you are not a representative, you are not eligible to contest elections,” said the official.

Yadav, however, claimed to have representation from Siddharth College of Law. It is learnt that Athavle’s representation reached after the September 18 deadline and hence it was not accepted.