NCP to contest 18 seats in Maharashtra

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has staked its claim on 18 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra on Saturday. These include the Thane and Bhandara constituencies over which the NCP and the Congress were unable to arrive at a consensus.

However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the list, put forward by the NPC, was released after due consultation with its alliance partner, the Congress.

"After all, we have an alliance. While there may be a dispute over many seats, some sacrifices will have to be made. We (the Congress) are also talking about the Solapur seat," Shinde said.

The NCP has ,meanwhile, decided to field Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel from the Bhandara Lok Sabha constituency, while the Speaker of the state legislative council Vasant Dawkare will contest from the Thane parliamentary seat.

Ashok Mohol of the NCP will be fielded from the Khed constituency, while Srinivas Patil is likely to contest from Karad.

Ichalkaranji and Kolhapur will see the NCP fielding Nivedita Mane and Sadashiv Mandlike, respectively (both sitting MPs from these constituencies).

While Sharad Pawar will contest once again from his home town, Baramati, other candidates finalised include Laxman Patil from Satara, Vasand More from the Erandol constituency, and Laxman Dhoble from Osmanabad.

In Beed, Jaisingrao Gaikwad will be the NCP candidate, Tukaram Ghadak and Govidnra Nikam are expected to be fielded from the Ahmednagar and Ratnagiri constituencies, respectively.

NCP leader Sachin Ahir will be contesting from Mumbai's South central parliamentary constituency.

RPI leader and alliance partner of the NPC and member of parliament Ramdas Athawale is likely to be fielded again from the Pandharpur constituency.

While discussions are on between the Congress and the NCP over seat sharing, the NCP's tally is likely to be around 19-20 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.