Maharashtra Assembly Polls 2024: Sharad Pawar interviews ticket aspirants for Pune seats

Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday interviewed ticket aspirants for the eight assembly constituencies in Pune city as well as constituencies in the rest of the district.

City NCP chief Prashant Jagtap said more than 15 aspirants appeared for interviews for the eight city constituencies -- Kothrud, Kasba, Vadgaon Sheri, Parvati, Hadapsar, Khadakwasla, Pune Cantonment and Shivajinagar.

Jagtap himself appeared for interview for Hadapsar constituency.

Pawar also spoke to aspirants for constituencies in Pune district, he informed.

The interviews are being conducted at Nisarg Mangal Karyalaya.

Five of the incumbent MLAs in the city belong to the BJP -- Madhuri Misal (Parvati), Chandrakant Patil (Kothrud), Siddharth Shirole (Shivajinagar), Sunil Kamble (Pune Cantonment) and Bhimarao Tapkir (Khadakwasla).

Vadgaon Sheri and Hadapsar are represented by Ajit Pawar-headed NCP's Sunil Tingre and Chetan Tupe, respectively.

Congress' Ravindra Dhangekar represents the Kasba seat.

Among those who appeared for the interviews were Surendra Pathare and his father Bapusaheb Pathare for Wadgaon Sheri, Ashwini Kadam, Sachin Taware for Parvati, Kaka Chavan, Sachin Dodke, Balasaheb Dhankawade and Navnath Parge for Khadakwasla, Shrikant Patil, Uday Mahale and Nilesh Nikam for Shivajinagar, Swapnil Dudhane, Kishor Kamble for Kothrud, Kanav Chavan, Nitin Rokade and Naresh Pagadalu for Pune Cantonment and Ravindra Malwadkar for Kasba.

Speaking to PTI, Surendra Pathare said if a young and educated candidate was preferred, he could get the ticket. "If an experienced candidate having a strong public connect is considered, my father will be the preferred candidate," he said.

Bapusaheb Pathare, a former BJP leader, and his son joined the NCP (SP) recently.

Bapusaheb Pathare had represented Wadgaon Sheri constituency from 2009 and 2014. In 2019 he joined the BJP, but the saffron party then gave ticket to Jagdish Mulik.