“As per the directions of the party chief (Sharad Pawar), we have reviewed party position in all the eight assembly segments and have recommended NCP (SP) to contest six assembly segments considering the strength of the party and the winnability factor,” said city NCP (SP) chief Prashant Jagtap.

“The list of assembly segments that can be contested by NCP (SP) effectively has been submitted to the state unit,” he said, adding that “the final decision on it will be taken by the national and state presidents of the party.”

The NCP had won Vadgaonsheri and Hadapsar assembly segments in the previous assembly election, so the party is naturally claiming those seats, Jagtap said. However, both the sitting NCP legislators have sided with the Ajit Pawar faction.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the NCP (SP) won the Shirur and Baramati constituencies, so it is confident of winning the Hadapsar and Khadakwasla assembly seats.

Notably, the BJP’s performance in Pune Cantonment and Shivajinagar assembly segments was poor during the Lok Sabha elections and the Maha Vikas Aghadi was likely to win both the seats.

“The Congress has been contesting the Pune Cantonment and Shivajinagar assembly seats, so there is no question of giving them to alliance partners during the assembly election. We will ask the party leadership to not give up the two seats along with Kasba and Parvati,” said a Congress leader.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has a strong base in Kothrud, Kasba, Hadapsar, and Vadgaonsheri, so its leaders would be pushing the party to contest these seats. “The Shiv Sena (UBT) party workers are active and the party would be victorious in the state elections as well,” said a Sena leader.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led Maha Yuti won only 17 seats, whereas the MVA won 30 seats in Maharashtra. One seat was won by an Independent, who later extended his support to the Congress.