Maharashtra Assembly Polls: BJP Releases 3rd List of 25 Candidates, Fadnavis' PA To Make Poll Debut

New Delhi: The BJP , on Monday, released its third list of 25 candidates. 

For the Arvi seat, the party fielded Sumit Wankhede, who served as the personal assistant to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for several years. 

Previously, the BJP in 2019 had fielded Fadnavis' former PA Abhimanyu Pawar from Ausa, which the latter had won. 

Later, Shreekant Bharatiya was made an MLC by the party.

So far, the BJP has announced candidates for 146 seats.

Ashok Chavan's Close Aide Given Ticket

Jitesh Antapurkar, who won a by-poll in 2021 on a Congress ticket and is considered close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, has been nominated from Deglur. Chavan had left the Congress recently and joined the BJP, which made him a Rajya Sabha MP.

Congress Turncoat Given Ticket

Archana Patil-Chakurkar, the daughter-in-law of Congress veteran and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil, has been fielded from the Latur City seat.

She joined the BJP from Congress in March of this year.

MLC Praveen Datke Fielded From Nagpur Central

Borivali BJP MLA Sunil Rane has been replaced with Sanjay Upadhyay, while MLC Praveen Datke has been fielded from the Nagpur Central seat.

Ashish Deshmukh To Fight From Saoner

Ashish Deshmukh, son of former Congress state president Ranjeet Deshmukh, has been given a ticket from Saoner in Nagpur district.

Sitting MLA Bharti Lavekar has been repeated from Versova seat in the western part of the metropolis.

Third List Features Four Women

The BJP's third list features four women, including Lavekar and Archana Patil-Chakurkar.

The other two are Sneha Dube, who has been fielded from the Vasai seat in Palghar district, and Sai Prakash Dahake from Karanja in Washim.

Polling on Nov 20, Results on Nov 23

Polls to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will take place on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23.(with PTI inputs)