MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its second list of 22 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections and has become the first major party in Maharashtra to announce the candidates for the ensuing assembly polls with the first list including 99 names.

The first list included all key leaders from Maharashtra including Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, party's state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Ashish Shelar, Rahul Narwekar and others.

The second list includes names such as Gopichand Padalkar, who will be contesting from the Jat constituency which is one of the eight Vidhan Sabha constituencies located in the Sangli district and Hemant Rasane, who will be representing one of Pune’s oldest residential neighborhoods Kasba Peth. 

Padalkar who is a prominent leader from the Dhangar community, his nomination has stirred some internal conflict within the party, as local BJP politicians in Jat had expressed their opposition to his candidacy. Despite this, Padalkar remains a significant contender, having previously contested from Baramati against NCP's Ajit Pawar.

Rasane, on the other hand, had previously lost to Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar in a by-election, which marked the first time since 1995 that Congress won the seat. This upcoming election will see Rasane once again facing Dhangekar in what promises to be a highly competitive race.

The BJP's second list also includes candidates for constituencies such as Vijay Kamalkisore Agarwal from Akola West, Ram Bhadane from Dhule Rural, Ramesh Kashiram Karad from Latur Rural, Shyam Ramcharanji Khode from Washim, Dr Milind Ramji Narote from Gadchiroli, Ravindra Dagdu Patil from Pen and sitting MLA Devyani Suhas Pharande from Nashik Central who had won this seat in 2014 as well as in 2019 assembly elections. 

Samadhan Mahadev Autade has been named from Pandharpur, he had won this seat in 2021 by elections for Pandharpur after sitting MLA Bharat Bhalke of Congress Party died of COVID-19 in 2020 and Devendra Rajesh Kothe who had joined BJP in May 2024 after leaving Congress Party has been named for the Solapur City Central assembly seat. With the release of this list, the BJP has now announced a total of 121 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections which are scheduled to be held on November 20.