Mumbai, New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is among the heavyweight names in the BJP's first list of candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The list, which was announced this afternoon, has 99 names. Maharashtra Assembly has 288 seats and the BJP is likely to contest nearly 160. The remaining seats are being contested by its allies Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Mr Fadnavis is contesting from Nagpur West Assembly seat, which he has represented since 2009. Nagpur is a BJP stronghold and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari represents the parliamentary seat in Lok Sabha. Of the six Assembly segments part of the Lok Sabha constituency, four are held by the BJP.
Among the other heavyweights, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule is contesting from Kamthi, also in Nagpur district. Incumbent state minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has been fielded from Ballarpur seat and Union Minister Raosaheb Danve's son Santosh is the BJP candidate in Bhokardan.
The BJP has fielded Sreejaya Chavan in Bhokar; she is the daughter of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who switched from the Congress to the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls and is now a Rajya Sabha member.
Mihir Kotecha, sitting MLA from Mulund, has been repeated as the candidate and three-time legislator Ram Kadam will contest from Mumbai's Ghatkopar West seat again.
BJP's Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar will contest from Vandre West and state minister Chandrakant Patil from Kothrud. Mr Shelar's brother has also got a poll pass and will contest in Malad West. Subhash Deshmukh is BJP's candidate in Solapur and Nitesh Rane, son of veteran leader and former Union Minister Narayan Rane, is contesting in Kankavli.
The BJP's first list for the Maharashtra election has 13 women candidates, six candidates from Scheduled Tribes and four from Scheduled Castes.
Significantly, the BJP has repeated many sitting MLAs as candidates in Maharashtra. The party is known to replace most sitting representatives in state and national polls to neutralise the effects of anti-incumbency and provide voters with a fresh option. Its decision to stick with sitting MLAs in this election suggests that it is confident ahead of what appears to be a tough poll contest.
In the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, the BJP-Sena-NCP alliance had suffered a setback, winning just 17 out of the 48 parliamentary seats in Maharashtra. The Maha Vikas Aghadi bloc of Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP pulled off a stellar show, winning 30 seats in the politically significant state.
The 2019 state polls in Maharashtra had seen the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance post an impressive win. The allies, however, parted ways due to a disagreement over the Chief Minister's post and Uddhav Thackeray tied up with the Congress and NCP to form the government. This government was toppled after a mutiny led by Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who then took over as Chief Minister. Between the 2019 election and the upcoming one, the Sena and the NCP have split, altering the Maharashtra political landscape and making this election all the more exciting.