Former BJP leaders Nishikant Bhosale Patil, Sanjaykaka Patil join NCP

BJP leader Nishikant Bhosale Patil and former BJP MP Sanjaykaka Patil joined the NCP on Friday in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, ahead of Maharashtra's upcoming elections.

According to sources, Sanjaykaka Patil and Nishikant Bhosale have received their AB forms and are now official candidates for the NCP in the Maharashtra Election 2024, representing Tasgaon and Islampur, respectively.

Earlier on Thursday, a crucial meeting was held in Delhi between Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance to prepare for the state elections. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, along with leaders like Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Praful Patel, and Sunil Tatkare attended the meeting.

 

All three parties had already released their initial lists of candidates, but 106 seats remained unannounced. Among these, 20 to 25 seats were contentious, with claims from all three parties. The meeting aimed to resolve these disputes. According to sources, to settle seat allocation issues, the constituent parties of the Mahayuti will swap certain seats. The BJP is expected to leave some seats for the NCP, while Eknath Shinde will also concede a few that the Shiv Sena contested in 2019.

Most seats were agreed upon in the meeting with Amit Shah, though a few remain undecided. It was concluded that decisions on these remaining seats will be based on which party is most likely to win, with leaders from all three parties scheduled to meet in Mumbai to finalise the arrangements.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Shinde Sena faction leader Sanjay Nirupam launched a scathing attack on Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, mocking them for struggling to secure seats in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

As the polling date approaches, both the ruling Mahayuti alliance--comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and Ajit Pawar-led NCP--and the opposition MVA have ramped up their preparations.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled for November 20, with counting for all 288 constituencies set for November 23. In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP secured 122 seats, the Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42.