Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday released its first list of 38 candidates for the upcoming state legislative assembly elections.
The NCP has fielded Ajit Kumar from the Baramati constituency, while two other heavyweights – Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil — will contest from Yeola and Ambegaon assembly seats, respectively.
The NCP has also fielded Congress turncoat Hiraman Khoskar from Igatpuri and Shulbha Khodke from Amravati. Both of them were Congress MLAs and had joined the NCP recently.
The Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP is contesting the poll in alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena had also released the names of 45 candidates for the upcoming assembly election. The list featured CM Shinde, who will contest the elections from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi Assembly constituency.
Manisha Ravindra Waykar from Jogeshwari (East), Suhas Dwarkanath Kande from Nandgao, Pradip Shivnarayan Jaiswal from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Middle), and Balaji Devidasrao Kalyankar from Nanded North were the other notable names in the Shiv Sena list.
The election to the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is scheduled to be held on November 20 and counting of votes will take place on November 23.