Crime run in Maharashtra polls

Today he may be in a Pune jail, but Gote (52) doesn’t intend to relinquish his position as the Samajwadi Janata Party’s MLA from Dhule, 350 km from Mumbai. The Mumbai High Court has allowed him to file his nomination through the jail superintendent.

Gote may be the only one in jail, but Maharashtra goes to polls with no shortage of candidates with criminal cases against them. The Indian Express dug up at least 14 such candidates and they are expected to win.

From the N-W Mumbai lush suburb of Vasai-Virar is three-time MLA Hitendra Thakur (43) with three pages of his election affidavit filled with a criminal cases. His brother, Bhai Thakur is a TADA detainee.

Across town in Thane’s Ulhasnagar constituency, TADA accused and three-time MLA Suresh, alias Pappu Kalani (52), is contesting this time on a Republican Party of India ticket, supported by the NCP-Congress alliance.

In Andheri, alleged Chhota Rajan ‘‘shooter’’ Kashinath Pashi (39) boasts a Samajwadi Party ticket with 30 criminal cases. After an impressive show in Lok Sabha polls (he polled 90,000 votes and came third), underworld don Arun Gawli (53), convicted twice under TADA with five years in jail, hopes to win the central Mumbai Chinchpokli constituency as an independent.

Gote insists that the charges against him are ‘‘a political ploy’’ by rivals out to frame him. Reports from Dhule, where his wife reigns supreme as civic chief, say he is running strong.

Kalani — famed for being elected twice while in jail — says he is just a businessman and politics ‘‘gave him a platform to serve people’’.

Kalani says, ‘‘This is hype created by the media. I have not been convicted in any of the cases.’’ He holds a record with eight TADA cases including charges of murder and bomb attack.

In Bhusaval, Santosh Choudhary has the NCP in a fix. The day his candidature was declared police served him a show cause notice, asking why he should not be externed from the limits of the town.

Former social welfare minister and three-time MLA, Babanrao Shankar Gholap (Shiv Sena), who’s a favourite from Deolali, 180 km east of Mumbai, was accused of financial irregularities during the Sena-BJP reign in the 1990s. He was refused a ticket in the 1999 polls but he won anyway as an independent. Gholap, a film producer, actor and farmer, has eight cases pending against him.

‘‘People vote for me for the work I have done in my constituency,’’ he says.

Former chief minister Narayan Rane, too, has gone through the legal grind. He was a prime accused in the murder of Shridhar Naik, a Congress activist in Kankavli (1991). A Sindhudurg court later discharged Rane, but the case is still on.

The first timers exude a similar confidence. Pashi — despite 30 pending cases — claimed he’s ‘‘harmless’’ and ‘‘safe’’. He said he turned to politics to save people from the ‘‘communal goon’’, Shiv Sena’s nominee Ravindra Waikar. ‘‘I have never met, seen or spoken to Chhota Rajan,’’ said Pashi. ‘‘I spent five years in Arthur Road jail as an undertrial in a murder case. There, I befriended Rajan’s men who were my co-prisoners.’’

Saoner in Nagpur district has independent MLA and ex-minister Sunil Kedar, a prime accused in a gilt scam. Then president of Nagpur District Co-operative Bank, Kedar, is charged with financial irregularity committed while investing the bank’s money in consultation with Home Trade, a firm that collapsed in 2002.

Mohammed Afroze, former pilot under training, was alleged to be an

Al Qaeda operative and booked under POTA, but it was withdrawn. Afroze is now an independent candidate from Trombay.

In Amboli (Mumbai), the main candidates Salim Durrani, Bahujan Samaj Party, is an accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts and was booked under TADA. ‘‘Everybody knows I am from a royal family. Is it possible for me to commit a crime?’’ he asked.

His rival, Jaywant Parab from Shiv Sena, has six cases of rioting, conspiracy, and attempted murder pending against him.

Activist from Bombay Environmental Action Group, Sumaira Abdulali, in a letter says ‘‘It unfortunate that the Congress has fielded Madhukar Thakur from Alibag constituency. Thakur has been engaged in large scale illegal mining of sand from the beaches in that region. His son and employees physically assaulted me in Kihim in May when I tried to prevent this illegal activity.’’