After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 99 candidates who are set to face off against opponents in the highly anticipated Maharashtra Assembly Elections, its political allies from the Mahayuti coalition—Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction)—are also preparing to enter the fray, with their candidate lists likely to be released today.
According to the information available, the Sena, led by the Shinde faction, and the NCP, led by the Ajit Pawar faction, are expected to announce their first list of candidates today, who will take up the challenge of securing victory for the party in the Assembly Polls. Notably, there is speculation that the first list of Sena candidates will include sitting MLAs who supported Eknath Shinde during his rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray. However, the exact details will only be confirmed after the list is officially released.
Additionally, it is important to note that, similar to the Shiv Sena’s strategy of favoring MLAs who supported their respective leaders during the rebellion, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) is expected to follow a similar approach during the seat allocation process. Reportedly, the Sharad Pawar faction is said to have given prominence to leaders who supported Sharad Pawar during Ajit Pawar's rebellion.
Below is a list of probable candidates included in the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) list:
- Jayant Patil - Islampur
- Anil Deshmukh - Katol
- Jitendra Awhad - Kalwa Mumbra
- Rohini Khadse - Muktainagar
- Rohit Pawar - Karjat Jamkhed
- Rohit Patil - Tasgaon
- Rakhi Jadhav - Ghatkopar East
- Rajesh Tope - Ghansavangi
- Balasaheb Patil - Karad North
- Prajakt Tanpure - Rahuri
- Sunil Bhusra - Vikramgad
- Ashok Pawar - Shirur
- Mansingh Naik - Shirala
- Shashikant Shinde - Karegaon
- Harshvardhan Patil - Indapur (recently joined NCP from BJP)
