BJP Releases First List of 99 Candidates for Maharashtra Assembly ElectionsOn Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of 99 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will run from his stronghold, Nagpur South West. Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule is set to contest from Kamthi, while Shrijaya Chavan, daughter of BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan, has been nominated from Bhokar.
The list features notable candidates including Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar from Vandre West and Nitesh Rane, son of senior party leader Narayan Rane, from Kankavli, a seat he currently holds. Other key contenders include Girish Mahajan from Jamner, Sudhir Mungantiwar from Ballarpur, Mangal Prabhat Lodha from Malabar Hill, and Rahul Narwekar from Colaba. Additionally, Chhatrapati Shivendra Raje Bhosale, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, will contest from Satara.
Maharashtra’s assembly elections for all 288 seats are scheduled for November 20, with results to be announced on November 23. The Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has yet to finalize its seat-sharing arrangement. The BJP aims to contest approximately 150 seats but is currently engaged in challenging negotiations with its allies.
In the previous assembly elections of 2019, the BJP secured 105 seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena won 56, and Congress claimed 44. The BJP had a stronger performance in 2014, winning 122 seats against Shiv Sena’s 63 and Congress’s 42. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti won only 17 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, compared to the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which secured 30 seats.
