Sanjay Pandey, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner, is joining the Congress party. On September 19, at 4 PM, Pandey will officially join Congress in a ceremony attended by Mumbai Congress President Varsha Gaikwad. He is expected to contest the upcoming elections from the Versova constituency.
Previous Speculations About Independent Candidacy
During the Lok Sabha elections, there were speculations that Pandey might run as an independent candidate.
Pandey’s Desire to Run for Elections
Sanjay Pandey, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the 1986 batch, had expressed his interest in running for the Lok Sabha elections from the Mumbai North-Central constituency on May 3. He said he was considering this due to requests from local residents. However, he did not end up running for that seat.
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Previous Candidates and Election Results
In the elections, the BJP fielded senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam and Congress fielded Varsha Gaikwad for the seat. Gaikwad won the election.
Connections and Controversies
Sanjay Pandey is known to be close to Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray. Pandey has been involved in controversies and faced cases with the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Arrests and Legal Issues
Pandey was appointed as Mumbai Police Commissioner on February 18, 2022, but his tenure was short. He retired on June 30, 2022. Shortly after, in July 2022, he was arrested by the ED in connection with the NSE phone-tapping case. He was also arrested by the CBI in September 2022 and spent about five months in jail before being granted bail by the Delhi High Court on December 8, 2022.
