The Sena leadership declared the first list of candidates last night. The list had all the names of the candidates from Pune district. With the exception of Sutar, the party seems to have played safe by nominating all the sitting MLAs and the experienced ones.

Former Lok Sabha member Kisanrao Bankhele will be the Sena candidate from Khed Lok Sabha constituency. Balasaheb Dangat, former MLA from Junnar assembly segment, has also been given ticket. The candidates in Pune city and district are: Pune Cantonment - Suryakant Lonkar, Bhavani Peth - Deepak Paigude, Shivajinagar - Vinayak Nimhan, Junnar - Balasaheb Dangat, Ambegaon - Avinash Rahane, Haveli - Gajanan Babar, Mulshi - Rajabhau Raikar, Purandar - Sudamrao Ingale and Bhor - Ulhas Dighe.

The nominations of Nimhan and Lonkar have shocked the local Senamen as the party was desperately looking for an alternative for Lonkar while Nimhan is being considered as a lightweight candidate from Shivajinagar constituency since he is known only in Pashan area. The party sources admitted that it would be tough for the alliance to retain the seat if Congress fielded a strong nominee.

Sutar's exclusion was expected since the party leadership had made up its mind to deny him the ticket. The party sources said the leaders were strongly opposed to Babanrao Gholap and Shashikant Sutar, who were facing corruption charges.

Paigude, who had earlier announced that he would not contest the election, withdrew when his supporters gheraoed him and even staged a rasta roko near his residence.

The party is yet to announce its candidate from Khed-Alandi assembly segment because of sharp differences among the local workers. The sources said the loyal Sena workers have been opposing zilla parishad member Dilip Mohite, who joined party from Congress a few years back. The party sources also said Ulhas Dighe, Sena nominee from Bhor constituency was unknown to the local workers. According to them, Dighe is the resident of Mumbai and has nothing to do with Bhor constituency.