MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Friday announced its first list of 21 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections from its quota of 23 seats, retaining most of the outgoing members.
In Mumbai, the party will field Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai South-Central) and Gajanan Kirtikar (Mumbai North-West). The remaining three Mumbai seats are with ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
From Konkan, the Sena has nominated Rajan Vichare (Thane), Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), Union minister Anant Geete (Raigad) and Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg).
Elsewhere, the candidates are: Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur), Dhairyashil Mane (Hatkanangale), Hemant Godse (Nashik), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi), Shivajirao Adhalrao (Shirur), Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad) and Shrirang Barne (Maval).
In eastern Maharashtra, the nominees are: Bhavna Gawli (Yavatmal-Washim), Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Hemant Patil (Hingoli) and Omraje Nimbalkar (Osmanabad).
Senior Sena leader and Industry Minister Subhash Desai said candidates for two other seats - Palghar and Satara - shall be announced in a couple of days.
As per the BJP-Sena alliance, the two ruling allies are contesting 48 parliamentary seats in the state in the ratio of 25:23, leaving nothing for its five smaller allies here.
However, a prominent National Democratic Alliance partner, Republican Party of India (A) President and Union Minister of State for Social Welfare Ramdas Athawale, is now actively lobbying for the Mumbai North-East seat from the BJP quota and another in the state from Shiv Sena's share.