NCP (Nationalist Congress party) candidate list: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar has released the first list of five candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election. All the five candidates are from Beed district. The party has fielded its senior leader and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde, from Parli Assembly seat. He is likely to face a direct challenge from his cousin Pankaja Munde yet again. Pankaja had defeated Dhananjay in the 2014 Assembly polls by a margin of over 25,000 votes.
The NCP is contesting the elections in an agreement with the Congress in Maharashtra. As per the seat-sharing agreement, both the parties will field candidates on 125 seats each, leaving the remaining 38 for other allies.
Constituency-wise list of NCP candidates:
The Congress-NCP alliance lost power to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine in 2014, winning 83 seats in 288-member House. While the BJP and Sena are aiming to win over 200 seats, the polls may turn into a battle of survival for Sharad Pawar’s party as several top leaders and ground workers have switch sides since the declaration of the Lok Sabha results. In the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May this year, the NCP won just five seats.