Maharashtra Assembly Elections: Sharad Pawar's NCP released a list of 45 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Polls, fielding Jitendra Ahwad from Mumbra and Anil Deshmukh from Katol among others.
Meanwhile, Rakhi Jadhav has been fielded from Ghatkopar East, Jayant Patil from Islampur, and Shashikant Patil from Koregaon.
Some other candidates who were fielded by the NCP (SP) are:
1. Katol - Anil Deshmukh
2. Balasaheb Patil - Karad North
3. Mumbra Kalwa - Jitendra Awhad
4. Koregaon - Shashikant Shinde
5. Basmat - Jayprakash Dandegaonkar
6. Jalgaon Rural - Gulabrao Devkar
7. Indapur - Harshvardhan Patil
8. Rahuri - Prajakta Tanpure
9. Vadgaon Sheri - Bapu Pathare
Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held on November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23. The term of the current assembly will end on November 26.
Pawar Vs Pawar In Baramati Again
The Maharashtra Assembly polls will witness a battle of the Pawars once again, after a similar battle happened in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. NCP Chief Ajit Pawar will be contesting againt his nephew and NCP (SP) leader Yungendra Pawar.
Yugendra Pawar is the son of Ajit Pawar's brother Shrinivas Pawar. He is currently the treaurer of Vidya Pratishthan Sanstha, which oversees the Baramati wrestler's association.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faced defeat when Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) candidate Supriya Sule, who was pitted against Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar, wrested the seat by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. Sule received 7,32,312 votes, while Sunetra Pawar managed to bag 5,73,979 votes.
Yugendra Pawar had campaigned extensively for Sule, helping her get a 48,000-vote lead from the Baramati Assembly segment.
After Ajit Pawar's wife lost in the Lok Sabha polls, the Deputy CM admitted that it was a mistake to field Sunetra Pawar against his cousin. Earlier, he had also hinted that he would not contest the Maharashtra polls, but said his supporters and party leaders convinced him to fight the elections.