Who is Sena MLA Suhas Kande whose vote was deemed invalid in Maharashtra Rajya Sabha polls?

While the Nandgaon MLA is loyal to his party Shiv Sena, Suhas Kande has shared an uneasy relationship with the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra on account of frictions with senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal.

Suhas Kande's vote in the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra was deemed invalid by the Election Commission. (Twitter/ @MrSuhasKande)

The tense electoral battle for six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra went down to the wire after the Central Election Commission of India deemed the vote of Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande as invalid after the BJP alleged violation of rules which delayed the counting of votes till early Saturday morning.

The polling which was completed at 3.30 pm, was stopped following objections by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) as well as the BJP accusing five members of flouting the code of conduct. The matter was referred to the Election Commission of India, which, after seeing the recorded videos, declared only one member’s vote – Suhas Kande – to be treated as invalid.

Explained | Explained: When can a Rajya Sabha vote be rejected?

In a major setback to the Sena, the BJP got all of its three candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha – Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mhadik. The Sena, which had fielded two candidates, managed to get Sanjay Raut elected, but its second candidate Sanjay Pawar lost. The Congress’ lone candidate Imran Pratapgadi won, overriding unrest within the party. Senior NCP leader and former Union minister Praful Patel emerged a winner as well.

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While the 43-year-old Suhas Kande has sworn fidelity to the Shiv Sena, the MLA from Nandgaon in Nashik district has shared an uneasy relationship with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government which even saw him move the Bombay High Court seeking the removal of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal as the guardian minister of Nashik district.

Kande – who once had a series of cases filed against him and even had externment proceedings initiated against him by the Nashik police in the mid-2000s – had started off with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Seen as close to Bhujbal at one point, Kande later jumped ship and joined the Shiv Sena, unsuccessfully contesting the 2014 Assembly elections against Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj in Nandgaon. In 2019, however, he managed to dislodge the Bhujbal family from Nandgaon, defeating Pankaj Bhujbal by 13,889 votes.

The formation of the MVA government and the appointment of Bhujbal as Nashik’s guardian minister rattled Kande as he felt that Bhujbal was out to finish his political career. This conflict even saw the two having public confrontations during government meetings.

An all-out struggle for his own political survival prompted Suhas Kande to move the Bombay High Court in September last year seeking the removal of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal as Nashik’s guardian minister. With no immediate end in sight for the NCP-Shiv Sena bonhomie in Maharashtra, Kande’s petition is being seen as a way of hedging his political future in case the alliance lasts till the 2024 elections. In 2019, Kande had defeated Pankaj Bhujbal in Nandgaon, but he fears the seat may be sacrificed by the Sena if the alliance continues.

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While Shiv Sena leaders had stepped in to stop the confrontation from escalating further, Kande is said to have been angry about the treatment he was meted out. Publicly, so far, Kande has sworn his loyalty to the Sena.