BJP renominates sitting MPs in Maha’s Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, fields MLA in Solapur

Mumbai: The BJP on Sunday announced three more Lok Sabha candidates in Maharashtra, including sitting MPs Sunil Mendhe and Ashok Nete who have been renominated from Bhandara-Gondiya and Gadchiroli-Chembur (ST) constituencies, respectively, in the Vidarbha region.

The party has fielded sitting Malshiraj MLA, Ram Satpute in the Solapur (SC) constituency against Congress nominee Praniti Shinde.

The last date for filing nomination is March 27 while the polling is slated for April 19 in these constituencies.

These three names were announced the day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar held a meeting on Saturday night with Home Minister Amit Shah over seat sharing.

The BJP has rejected the NCP’s proposal to leave the Bhandara-Gondiya and Gadchiroli-Chembur seats for it, citing the lack of adequate representation in these two seats.

The BJP had already announced the list of 20 candidates in Maharashtra. With three more candidates, the party has, so far, bagged 23 seats in its quota though the seat-sharing arrangement with Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NPA has yet to be formally declared.

The BJP’s 20 candidates included Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur), Sudhir Mungantiwar (Chandrapur), Hina Gavit (Nandurbar), Subhash Bhamre (Dhule), Smita Wagh (Jalgaon), Raksha Khadse (Raver), Anup Dhotre (Akola), Ramdas Tadas (Wardha), Prataprao Chikhaliakr (Nanded), Raosaheb Danve (Jalna), Bharati Pawar (Dindoshi), Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi), Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Mihir Kotecha (Mumbai North East), Muralidhar Mohol (Pune), Sujay Vikhe-Patil (Ahmednagar), Pankaja Munde (Beed), Sudhakar Shrangare (Latur), Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar (Madha), and Sanjaykaka Patil (Sangli).

–IANS