The BJP, so far, has announced candidates for 146 seats.
Sumit Wankhede, who has served as Fadnavis’s personal assistant for several years, will be the BJP’s candidate from Arvi. Sitting MLA Dadarao Keche has been dropped to accommodate Wankhede.
In Nagpur Central, the party has replaced its sitting MLA Vikas kumbhare with Pravin Datke. Similarly, Arni MLA Sandip Dhurve has been replaced with Raju Todsam. In Umarkhed, sitting MLA Namdev Sasane has also been replaced with Kishan Wankhede.
Borivali BJP MLA Sunil Rane has been replaced with Sanjay Upadhyay. Upadhay’s candidature has caused dissent with supporters of former BJP MP Gopal Shetty protesting against him.
Jitesh Antapurkar, who won a bypoll in 2021 on a Congress ticket and is considered close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, has been nominated from Deglur.Archana Patil-Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of Congress veteran and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil, has been fielded from Latur City seat. She had joined the BJP from the Congress in March this year.Ashish Deshmukh, son of former Congress state president Ranjeet Deshmukh, has been given a ticket from Savner in Nagpur district.
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 Vasai, and Sai Prakash Dahake from Karanja.
