Are Apaksha candidates – rebel independents – a curse or boon? This has been a moot question asked by everyone in Maharashtra.
The reason is simple. There are over 7000 candidates fighting the elections and the presence of independents in such large numbers has turned many bipolar contests into triangular fights and in some places even multipolar ones. This has made it all the more challenging for journalists, analysts, and political leaders to predict the outcomes here accurately.
Shirish Chaudhari, who is close to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is contesting as an independent against Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP's candidate, the minister Anil Patil, in Amalner.
Just a few kilometres away, in the Parola-Erondal constituency, former BJP Lok Sabha MP AT Patil has thrown his hat in the ring against the Shiv Sena’s Amol Patil.
In the adjoining constituency of Pachora, another BJP leader Amol Patil, who is close to BJP minister Girish Mahajan and who calls himself Mahajan's manas-putra, is contesting against Shiv Sena candidate Kishor Patil.
Then there is Navi Mumbai where Vijay Nahatt, who was with Eknath Shinde, has rebelled against his party and is contesting against BJP MLA Manda Mhatre from the Belapur constituency.
Another Shinde man Vijay Chogule is contesting against BJP candidate Ganesh Naik in Airoli.
These are not isolated examples.
In fact, there is a huge buzz around who the independents will harm the most—the Mahayuti or the Maha Vikas Aghadi. There is not the slightest doubt among anyone that rebels have spiced up the polls whose results are due on November 23.
A viral audio clip of Devendra Fadnavis has also underlined how much of a headache have been to political parties.
The rebellion has spared no one. Besides the Congress and BJP, it has also hit both the Senas and both the NCPs.
Interestingly, there are those who say that the rebellions might also have been 'engineered' by major political parties to ensure they have more than one card to play in these seats.
The reason why this is being said is because these rebels are reportedly being given all the resources needed to fight these elections. So, while on paper they might be called rebels, the party is unofficially backing them to the hilt.
Mumbai BJP unit president Ashish Shelar rightly pointed out that rebels are a curse for any party. But it remains to be seen for whom they will turn out to be a curse and for whom a boon.
The Congress in particular is pinning a lot of hopes on these rebellions.
In Haryana, the rebels had hurt them. In Maharashtra, the Grand Old Party is hoping to cash in as the rebels are more in numbers for the Mahayuti than the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
There is also a big factor that could be driving the 'legitimate' rebellions. No local body election has taken place in the last five years, be it either for the District Panchayat or municipal corporation.
Fighting the Lok Sabha elections has always been beyond the reach of many of these leaders simply because of how costly it is. So, many of them are seeing this as their big opportunity.
It was in 1995 that the highest number of independents -- 45 -- were elected. There were 3196 candidates in the fray then.
This time around, as mentioned earlier, more than double the number of candidates are contesting the elections. So, will we see newer records being set? We will have to wait and see.
