Maharashtra Civic Polls: All-Party Delegation, Including Sharad Pawar, Uddhav And Raj Thackeray, To Meet Chief Electoral Officer On Tuesday

Mumbai: An "all-party" delegation including NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray will meet Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer on October 14 ahead of civic body elections, MP Sanjay Raut said here.

State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, Ajit Nawale of the CPI, Prakash Reddy of the CPM and Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party will also be part of the delegation, and Samajwadi Party's Abu Azmi too has been invited, he said.

He had also invited Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as well as the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to be part of the delegation, Raut, a Sena (UBT) leader, said.
Despite the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena not being part of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, Raj Thackeray will join the delegation, he noted.

"Meeting the Election Commission is a formality, because it does not do anything. Still, we have some questions, some secrets which can be disclosed only before the Election Commission. We must constantly put forth our position before the EC since it is constitutional arrangement," he said.
At the same time, it was like "banging one's head against a wall" as the EC is working under political pressure, Raut claimed.

Delegation members will later hold a press conference at the Yashwantrao Pratishthan auditorium, he said.

(Note: Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Daily Jagran staff. Credit: PTI)