BJP drops four Maharashtra MPs in second list

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped four sitting MPs from Maharashtra while announcing the second list of six nominees for the Lok Sabha elections here on Saturday morning.

The candidates are: Maharashtra Minister Girish Bapat (Pune), Bharati Pawar (Dindori), Smita U. Wagh (Jalgaon), Kanchan R. Kul (Baramati) and Jaysidhesvar Swami (Solapur) and Pratap Patil Chikkalikar (Nanded).

Those dropped include sitting Members of Parliament (MP) - Anil Shirole (Pune), Sharad Bansode (Solapur), A.T. Patil (Jalgaon) and Harishchandra Chavan (Dindori).

Bharati Pawar, who was the state Vice-President of the Nationalist Congress Party, walked over to the BJP on Friday and was rewarded with a ticket.

In the first list declared on Thursday, the BJP had announced 16 candidates from Maharashtra, plus six on Saturday, leaving another three names to be declared.

The BJP and ally Shiv Sena are contesting 25 and 23 seats respectively of the total 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

From its quota of 23, the Shiv Sena on Friday announced 21 candidates, with two more left to go from Palghar and Satara constituencies.

The Sena dumped one sitting MP - Ravindra Gaikwad, who attained notoriety after the March 23, 2017 incident when he assaulted an Air India staffer at New Delhi Airport with slippers for allegedly not allotting him a business class seat.

The party is likely to announce the names for the final two seats on Sunday, sources said.

--IANS

qn/mag/bg