Pune: As the Maha Vikas Aghadi continues discussions on seat-sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) has made a strong pitch for the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency in Pune, currently under Congress control.

NCP (SP) leaders have approached party chief Sharad Pawar, arguing that their party has a stronger base in Shivajinagar and should be given the opportunity to contest from there.

Shivajinagar was previously a Shiv Sena stronghold, but the seat has been with Congress for the last two elections, both of which ended in defeat for their candidates.

NCP (SP) leaders present during the appeal to Pawar included constituency president Uday Pramod Mahale, state vice president Shrikant Patil, former standing committee chairman Nilesh Nikam, and former corporator Rajesh Sane.

In 2009, the late MLA Vinayak Nimhan was elected from this constituency on a Shiv Sena ticket. Later, in 2014, BJP's Vijay Kale won the seat, followed by BJP’s Siddharth Shirole, who won by a margin of just 5,500 votes in 2019.

Congress corporator Datta Bahirat has been preparing for the election in this constituency over the past five years, while Sunny Nimhan, son of the late Vinayak Nimhan and a former corporator, is also interested in contesting from Shivajinagar.

Congress state president Nana Patole has directly invited him to join the party, indicating Congress's strong interest in the seat. However, NCP has now put forth its demand for this constituency.

Uday Pramod Mahale, Shrikant Patil, and Nilesh Nikam have all expressed their willingness to contest from Shivajinagar.