The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday announced its first list of 11 candidates to contest the Lok Sabha elections from 10 seats in Maharashtra and the Lakshadweep constituency. The NCP, which will fight the polls in alliance with the Congress and other smaller parties, is expected to field candidates on 22 of the 48 constituencies in the state.

The list includes four sitting members of Parliament (MPs), including party chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule who will contest from Baramati. Interestingly, the list does not feature senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth Pawar, who has insisted on contesting from Maval constituency near Pune.

Parth Pawar’s candidature has been in focus, as Sharad Pawar himself went back on his decision to contest, saying just two members from the family will be in the fray, thus making way for his grand-nephew. “Putting both names [Supriya and Parth] from the family in one list would have given others a chance to criticise us over dynasty politics,” said a NCP leader, who did not wish to be named, on why Parth’s name was not on the list.

“We have decided to nominate four sitting MPs — Supriya Sule, Udayanraje Bhosale (Satara), Dhanajay Mahadik (Kolhapur) and Mohammed PP Faizal (Lakshadweep),” said Jayant Patil, state NCP chief, adding that discussions on other names are still on, and the party will announce them in the next couple of days.

Other candidates on Thursday’s list are Sunil Tatkare (Raigad); Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East); Anand Paranjpe (Thane); Babaji Patil (Kalyan); Rajendra Shingane (Buldhana); Gulabrao Deokar (Jalgaon); and Rajesh Vitekar (Parbhani).

NCP also announced that they have decided to leave one seat — Hathkanagale – for ally Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha (SP), indicating that they are still working out a formula to keep smaller parties on board.

The party, however, has as good as ruled out a formal alliance with the Maharashtra Navrinman Sena (MNS) by declaring Babaji Patil as its candidate from Kalyan, a seat NCP it was willing to give to the Raj Thackeray-led party.

“Following Congress’ opposition, we could not have an alliance with MNS. We are now expecting MNS to support NCP candidates in those areas where it has a strong presence. In lieu, NCP will share seats with the party in the Assembly elections to be held later in the year,” said a NCP leader, on condition of anonymity.

First Published: Mar 15, 2019 07:50 IST