Madhu Jain files papers for Council election at eleventh hour

Mumbai, Oct 13 (UNI) In a dramatic turn of events, as Subodh Mohite, the official Congress candidate for the Council election, could not reach Vidhan Bhavan on time due to transportation hassles, Ms Madhu Jain, sister-in-law of Suresh Dada Jain, NCP MLA from Jalgaon, was asked to replace him at the eleventh hour.

Subodh Mohite was asked to reach Mumbai and file his papers for the Council's lone seat election this morning. He started from Nagpur but missed the Mumbai flight and had to take a flight to Pune from where he was scheduled to take a helicopter to Mumbai. But as President Pratibha Patil was to from Pune, Mohite could not land at Pune and reach Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai before 1500 hrs, which was the deadline to file the nomination.

Ms Jain, who was ready and waiting in the Vidhan Bhavan party office, was asked to file as party's official candidate. She filed the papers at 1459 hrs.

The seat got vacant in July this year when the Council passed a resolution to remove a BJP MLC Navanath Awhad, because of his absence due to coma.

The election will be held on October 23 and results will be declared on the same day. Shiv Sena-BJP has fielded Suresh Havare, a prominent builder in Navi Mumbai, from their side.

BJP leader Gopinath Munde said Havare will get support from other parties as well and would give a tough fight to Congress-NCP.

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