Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena released its first list of 45 candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls late on Tuesday night. The list has names of Shinde, who will contest from Kopri -Panchpakhadi in Thane city and over half a dozen Cabinet members from their seats.
The ruling party has re-nominated almost all the legislators who backed Shinde when he led a revolt against the then-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022.
Shinde will seek re-election from Kopri -Panchpakhadi in adjoining Thane city. The party has fielded ministers Gulabrao Patil, Deepak Kesarkar, Abdul Sattar and Shamburaj Desai from Jalgaon Rural, Sawantwadi, Sillod and Patan, respectively. Another cabinet member, Dada Bhuse, will contest from the Malegaon Outer assembly constituency in Nashik district.
Ministers Uday Samant and Tanaji Sawant have been fielded from Ratnagiri and Paranda, respectively. Another prominent leader Sada Sarvankar will fight the polls from Mahim in Mumbai.
The party has also fielded kin of several MLAs. From Rajapur, it has given ticket to Kiran Samant, brother of minister Uday Samant. Suhas Babar, son of the late legislator Anil Babar, will contest from Khanapur in Sangli district.
Manisha Waikar, wife of Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai North-West Ravindra Waikar, has been fielded from Jogeshwari (East), while Abhijit Adsul, son of Sena leader and former Union minister Anand Adsul, will contest from Daryapur in Amravati district. Vilas Bhumre, son of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Lok Sabha MP Sandipan Bhumre, will contest from Paithan.
With this, the Shiv Sena has become the second major political party to release its list of candidates. Its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had released a list of 99 candidates on Sunday last. The ruling Mahayuti, which consists of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar), is yet to announce its seat-sharing deal for polls to the 288-member assembly.
The ruling alliance is fighting against the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) for the November 20 polls.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) released its first list of 45 candidates for the polls on Tuesday. Son of MNS president Raj Thackeray, Amit Thackeray, is all set to make his electoral debut from Mahim assembly seat in central Mumbai.
Of the 45 candidates, Pramod Patil, the only MNS MLA in the outgoing assembly, was renominated from Kalyan rural seat in neighbouring Thane district.
(With PTI inputs)
