Maharashtra Elections: Anil Deshmukh’s son Salil fielded from Katol in NCP-SP’s 4th list

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Sharad Pawar faction on Monday released the fourth list of seven candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections scheduled to be held on November 20. The party has fielded Salil Deshmukh, son of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, from Katol. Notably, the seat has been represented by Anil Deshmukh since 1995.

The latest list includes Prabhakar Gharge from Man, Arunadevi Pisal from Vai and Vaibhav Sadashiv Patil from Khanapur. In Daund, the party has nominated Ramesh Thorat. Sharad Maind in Pusad and Sandeep Bedse from Sindkheda have also been chosen.

With this announcement, the NCP-Sharad Pawar has named candidates for 83 constituencies in Maharashtra. The first list featured 45 candidates, while the second and third lists included 22 and 9 candidates, respectively.

It is interesting to note that the NCP-Sharad Pawar has named Anil Deshmukh as its candidate from Katol in its first list of 45 candidates. However, in the 4th list, the party has replaced the veteran leader with his son for his traditional seat.

The party on Sunday, October 27, announced its third list of candidates for nine seats. In the list, the party fielded actor Swara Bhaskar's husband Fahad Ahmad from Anushakti Nagar. Ahmad was the state president of the Samajwadi Party youth wing in Maharashtra. He switched over to the NCP (SP). Fahad Ahmad will take on Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Sana Malik, daughter of former minister Nawab Malik.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi said the party does not want the secular votes to be divided in the state and is still waiting for the response from Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over seat sharing.

Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the SP leader said, “The Samajwadi Party does not want the secular votes to be divided in Maharashtra. The party is still waiting for the response of Maha Vikas Aghadi.”

Azmi further said that SP National President Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that the party wants to fight the elections with the alliance. If the alliance does not want to keep the party with it, then the latter will fight the elections from where its organisation is strong.