Maharashtra polls: BJP’s 3rd list has Fadnavis’ PA, richest candidate from 2019 election

BJP released its third list of 25 candidates for the Maharashtra assembly elections on Monday, following its earlier announcements of 121 names

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its third list of 25 candidates for the Maharashtra assembly elections on Monday, following its earlier announcements of 121 candidates across two lists.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis

Notable among the selections is Sumeet Wankhede, personal assistant to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who will contest from Arvee. The party has also fielded Parag Shah, who held the distinction of being the state's wealthiest assembly candidate in 2019, from Ghatkopar East, alongside sitting legislator Ram Satpute from Malshiras.

In Versova, the party has retained sitting MLA Bharti Lavhekar, whilst naming Archana Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of former Union Minister Shivraj Chakurkar, to contest against Congress leader Amit Deshmukh in Latur city. The constituency of Katol in Nagpur will see Charansingh Thakur face off against Salil Deshmukh, son of NCP-SP leader and former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Kishor Jorgewar, who joined the BJP on Sunday after serving as an independent MLA, has secured the party ticket from Chandrapur. The party has also welcomed Jitesh Antapurkar, a close confidant of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, nominating him from Deglur in Nanded following his recent shift to the BJP.

Several of Monday's announcements had been delayed due to internal party deliberations. The Ghatkopar East constituency, for instance, had been sought by former minister Prakash Mehta. Similarly, the Borivali seat saw competing claims from former MP Gopal Shetty and sitting MLA Sunil Rane, who had been seeking renomination.