Maharashtra: BJP State President Chandrakant Patil files nomination from Kothrud

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrakant Patil on Thursday filed his nomination for Kothrud constituency in Pune.

The Kothrud seat was earlier represented by Medha Vishram Kulkarni from BJP.

The party had on Tuesday released its first list of 125 candidates for the upcoming polls.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will contest from his traditional Nagpur South-West constituency.

Minister Pankaja Munda will be contesting from Parli seat in Beed district. President of BJP's Mumbai unit -- Ashish Shelar -- will contest from Vandre West in Mumbai while another minister Girish Mahajan has been given the ticket from Jamner. Speaker Haribhau Bagde will seek his re-election from Phulambri Assembly constituency.

The party also announced the candidature of Udayanraje Bhonsle for the Lok Sabha by-election to be held in Satara constituency. He was elected from Satara on the NCP ticket in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He later left the party and resigned from the Lok Sabha and joined the BJP. He is a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji.

The party has given tickets to 12 women candidates including Pune Mayor Mukta Tilak. She belongs to the family of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak and would contest from Kasba Peth. The seat was earlier represented by Girish Bapat, who resigned after his election to the Lok Sabha in 2109.

There are 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly.