Among those who missed the poll bus: two ex-police officers, IRS officer

Meanwhile, wife of former police officer Pradeep Sharma, who had joined Shinde Sena, eventually filed nomination as an independent candidate.

Sources said that while Pandey was interested in contesting the Assembly polls from Versova, the seat was given to Congress’s MVA ally Sena (UBT).

“He could not begrudge the party as they did not get the seat. And he did not want to leave the party that he just joined,” a source said.

About talks of him being given some other seat to contest, the source said, “He had worked in Versova and felt he had a chance there. It was pointless fighting from a seat where he had no base. He decided to bow out of the race.”

Swikruti Sharma, wife of  former police officer Pradeep Sharma, who was known as “encounter specialist”, had joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and was expected to contest from Andheri East.

The seat was, however, given to Murji Patel, the BJP candidate who moved to Shinde Sena.

Sharma filed nomination as an independent from the seat which is currently held by Sena UBT MLA Rutuja Latke.

“We have done a lot of social work over the past one year including providing ambulances that conducted medical camps at six places every day,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

Earlier there were rumours that Patel was asked to withdraw from the contest, but eventually he was chosen as the Shinde Sena candidate from the seat. Patel had previously contested against Latke in a by-election.

Sources said that BJP’s reluctance to support Swikruti Sharma’s candidacy also stems from her husband’s controversial past, including his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case.

A source said that Shinde Sena leaders are trying to convince Pradeep Sharma to take back the candidature of his wife.

They have time till November 4, the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

Around a week ago, there were speculations about Sameer Wankhede, a serving IRS officer,  contesting polls from Shinde Sena from Dharavi. However, sources in the party denied any such move.

Sources close to Wankhede claimed that while he did have feelers from some parties, he was reluctant to give up on his 16 years of service and decided to stay the course.

Currently posted in Chennai, Wankhede had courted controversy during his probe in the and Cordelia drug bust case in which he had arrested Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan.

There were also speculations about retired ACP Vasant Dhoble,  known for his raids on bars in Mumbai, showing interest in contesting the upcoming polls.

While banners declaring support for him in the elections had come up in the Goregaon area, Dhoble’s name also did not come up when the parties where choosing candidates.