PUNE: A total of 303 candidates are in the fray in 21 assembly seats in Pune district after 179 candidates withdrew nominations on the last of the process on Monday, an official said. The most prestigious of the contests in the district is in Baramati, where Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will take on his nephew and NCP (SP) contestant Yugendra Pawar. 


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"A total of 482 candidates had submitted nomination forms. Of these, 179 withdrew, leaving 303 in the fray," a district poll official said. In Kothrud, senior BJP leader and state minister Chandrakant Patil will take on Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate and former MLA Chandrakant Mokate, while in Parvati, BJP's sitting MLA Madhuri Misal will have a direct fight with NCP (SP) Ashwini Jagtap. Congress rebel Ulhas alias Aaba Bagul is also in the fray.


"Parvati was a Congress bastion. The NCP was given the seat three times but they failed to win it even once. So I decided to contest," Bagul said. In Kasba, BJP's Hemant Rasane will lock horns with Congress' sitting MLA Ravindra Dhangekar. In Vadgaon Sheri, NCP MLA Sunil Tingre is up against NCP (SP) candidate Bapusaheb Pathare, while in Shivajinagar, BJP's sitting MLA Siddhart Shirole will fight against Congress' Datta Bahirat. In Pune cantonment constituency, sitting MLA Sunil Kamble is up against Congress leader and former minister of state Avinash Bagve. 


In Hadapsar, NCP's Chetan Tupe is pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Prashant Jagtap. In Indapur, Harshavardhan Patil, who quit the BJP and joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), is up against sitting NCP MLA Dattatray Bharne. Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23.