The partially released list of Congress-NCP alliance candidates indicates a greater share of seats in favour of NCP in the politically sensitive region of western Maharashtra,known for its influential sugar lobby. While Congress has got three seats in the region (out of 17 candidates announced so far),NCP has managed to claim seven in its official list of 18. The alliance pact gives Congress 26 and NCP 22 in a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. The three seats alloted to Congress in the region are Pune,Solapur and Sangli. NCP will contest from newly constituted Maval,Baramati,Shirur,Madha,Satara,Kolhapur and Hatkanangle and Ahmednagar. A highlight of the first NCP list,which contains the anticipated candidatures of the party president Sharad Pawar from Madha and his daughter Supriya Sule from Baramati,is the nomination of Udayan Raje Bhosale from Satara at the cost of the sitting NCP MP Laxman Patil. Udayan Raje,considered a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji,left Congress to join NCP after his nomination was guaranteed by it. He had publicly announced that if he was not nominated by Congress or NCP he would contest the polls as an independent,affecting the prospects of the official party candidate from Satara.
