Pune: The BJP on Wednesday announced the candidature of late Shivajirao Kardile’s son Akshay for the Rahuri bypoll on April 23. MVA is likely to field a candidate against him.Kardile died of cardiac arrest last Oct and the then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash in Jan this year. The Election Commission has announced bypolls for both Baramati and Rahuri assembly seats represented by Pawar and Kardile. NCP has announced that Ajit Pawar’s wife and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar will contest from Baramati. There were speculations about the Rahuri seat. While Akshay’s name was at the forefront, cabinet minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil’s son and former MP Sujay Vikhe Patil was also keen on contesting from the seat. BJP picked Akshay. The Mahayuti partners have appealed to all the parties not to field candidates in both seats. NCP (SP) on Wednesday clarified that they will not put up any contestant for the Baramati seat, but may contest the Rahuri seat. A former MLA of NCP (SP), whom Shivajirao Kardile had defeated in 2024 is keen.NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde said, “Baramati seat will be most certainly unopposed but we are discussing the Rahuri seat with our MVA partners and we will soon announce our decision.”The Congress has said that it may contest the Baramati seat. State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “We have already received applications and will start online interviews. If NCP (SP) contests the seat, we will support them. But they are not fielding a candidate, so we will appeal to them to support our candidate in the Baramati seat.”
