BJP released the first list of its candidates for the Maharashtra assembly elections on Sunday, October 20. The saffron party has announced the names of 99 candidates which the party has fielded Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South-West and party state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule from Kamathi assembly seat.
The BJP mentions heavyweight names in the list of 99 seats, including Devendra Fadnavis, BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Girish Mahajan, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Sreejaya Ashok Chavan, Ashish Shelar, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Rahul Narwekar, Chhatrapati Shivendra Raje Bhosale, and others.
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Nagpur South West is the top seat from which Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis is contesting. Nagpur South West came into existence in 2009. Since then, Fadnavis has been winning the elections. BJP's state president, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, will contest from Kamathi. Former CM Ashok Chavan's daughter, Srijaya Ashok Chavan, has been given a ticket from Bhokar. Ashok Chavan has also represented this seat earlier. Srijaya quit the Congress and joined BJP in February this year.
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Other leaders named in the first list include Ram Kadam from Ghatkopar West, Shweta Mahale Patil from Chikli, Sreejaya Ashok Chavan from Bhokar, and Nitish Rane from Kankavli.
While speaking to the news agency ANI, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said that Republican Party only want to contest on five seats. He said he demanded BJP leader Fadnavis that his party leaders should get a ministerial position in the cabinet after winning.
"Today we discussed with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior BJP leaders. In that, we have requested that the Republican Party should not want many but only 5 seats... When the government comes, our leader should get a ministerial position in the cabinet," said Athawale.
"Republican Party should also get seats in the upcoming Mahanagar Palika and Zilla Panchayat elections... When our final agreement is made, it remains to be seen what RPI is going to get in it... They are going to consider giving us seats. We have been assured of this," added Ramdas Athawale.
The Maharashtra Assembly will go to polls in a single phase on November 20. The votes will be counted, and the results will be announced on November 23. The BJP party is contesting state elections in alliance with the Shiv Sena faction of CM Eknath Shinde and NCP Ajit Pawar. In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP and Undivided Shiv Sena contested as NDA allies, while the Congress and the Undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fought each other. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 161 seats. The Congress-led UPA alliance had won 98 seats.