Ajit Pawar picks old NCP hand Sanjay Khodke

NCP's Ajit Pawar nominates Sanjay Khodke for March 27 by-elections to legislative council, amid unopposed candidacy due to lack of opposition.

Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led NCP has decided to field Sanjay Khodke, an old hand in the party, as its candidate for the by-elections to five legislative council seats, slated on March 27.

Sanjay Khodke (in white shirt) filed his nomination for the by-polls on Monday

Khodke has been working for the party since the undivided NCP was formed in 1999, mostly handling party administration and legislative work. He was considered a trusted aide of NCP founder Sharad Pawar but shifted allegiance to the veteran leader’s nephew Ajit Pawar during the split in the party in 2023. His wife Sulbha, the then Congress MLA, joined the NCP ahead of the assembly poll in November last year and was re-elected as MLA from Amravati.

Khodke was earlier sidelined by the NCP leadership when Navneet Kaur Rana was chosen as its candidate for the Amravati parliamentary seat during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He left the NCP in protest, joined the Congress and contested the legislative council elections from the Amravati graduate constituency, but lost to BJP’s Ranjeet Patil. He subsequently left the Congress and returned to the NCP.

Khodke has worked as officer on special duty (OSD) for Chhagan Bhujbal and Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil when they were deputy chief minister. He is known for his organisational skills and was chosen over frontrunners like Zeeshan Siddique, Anand Paranjpe and Siddharth Kamble, among others. He filed his nomination for the by-polls on Monday and is set to be elected unopposed as the opposition has not field any candidates.