Shiv Sena pits most of sitting MPs in first list of candidates

Mumbai, March 19 (IANS) The Shiv Sena announced Thursday its first list of 15 candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, renominating a majority of its sitting MPs.

The list of candidates was announced at a media conference by the party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray here Thursday afternoon.

While Mohan Rawale will contest from Mumbai South, Gajanan Kirtikar has been nominated from Mumbai North-West and Suresh Gambhir from Mumbai South-Central. The remaining three seats in Mumbai will be contested by its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the coastal Konkan region, Suresh Prabhu will contest from Sindhudurg and Anant Geete will stand from the Ratnagiri-Raigad constituency.

The other candidates gthe Shiv Sena announced include: Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati - reserved), Bhavana Gawli (Yavatmal-Washim), Suresh Wankhede (Hingoli), Ganesh Dudhgaonkar (Parbhani), Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad), Datta Gaikwad (Nashik), Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil (Shirur), Bhausaheb Waghchaure (Shirdi-reserved), and Prof. Ravi Gaikwad (Osmanabad).

While a majority of the Sena's sitting MPs have been renominated, a significant change is Dudhgaonkar who replaces Tukaram Renge-Patil, whom the party expelled for abstaining during the UPA government's trust vote July 2008.

In the 2004 elections, the Sena had bagged 12 seats while alliance partner BJP had bagged 13 seats. The second list of candidates will be announced after a few days.