Maharashtra: Shiv Sena (UBT) releases 1st list of candidates; fields Anil Desai from Mumbai South Central

Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday released its first list of candidates in Maharashtra for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, naming senior leader Anil Desai from Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency.

Party leader Sanjay Raut took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share the list of the 17 candidates, namely for Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane, Parbhani, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shirdi, South Mumbai, North West Mumbai, North East Mumbai, Sangli, Hingoli, Dharshiv, Nasik and Maval seats.

Sitting MP Arvind Sawant has been fielded from the South Mumbai seat, with Amol Kirtikar being fielded from the Mumbai North West constituency, a seat once represented by his father, Gajanan Kirtikar. Kirtikar's nomination comes even as the ED on Wednesday issued a summons to him in connection with his alleged involvement in the Khichdi scam.

The party has fielded Sanjay Deshmukh from Yavatmal, Narendra Khedekar from Buldhana, Sanjog Waghere from Maval, Chandrahar Patil from Sangali, Nagesh Patil from Hingoli, Chandrakant Khere from Sambhajinagar and Omraj Nimbalkar from Dharshiv.

Veteran party leader Anant Geete will contest the Raigadh seat and Vinayak Raut will contest from Ratnagiri.

Rajan Vichare is the candidate of the party from Thane, while Sanjay Jadhav is all set to fight Parbhani seat.

The UBT Sena is fighting the Maharashtra polls in alliance with the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and the Congress.

Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20.

The state, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.

The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four. Following the split in the Shiva Sena 2022, Eknath Shinde faction aligned with the BJP.