It was exactly two-and-a-half years ago that the three men contested elections under the banner of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to make their party’s presence felt at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Now, the MNS corporator trio is once again in the fray, this time for the Assembly polls.

In the first list declared by the MNS on Monday, the party announced candidates for five constituencies in Pune — Shivajinagar, Kasba, Hadapsar, Kothrud and Parvati. Of them, three will be contested by corporators — Ravindra Dhangekar from Ganesh Peth ward, Vasant More from Katraj ward and and Kishor Shinde from Vanaj Company ward. They will contest from Kasba, Hadapsar and Kothrud constituencies respectively.

Ranjit Shirole is the candidate from Parvati constituency. Shirole contested his first Lok Sabha polls in April, garnering an impressive share of 75,000 votes. Ashish Chitnis, a city unit office-bearer of MNS, is the candidate for Shivajinagar.

“With the kind of energizing results we got during the recent Lok Sabha polls, we have proved that we can reach the masses. Hence, this time we are all the more confident,” Ravindra Dhangekar said.

When asked whether he would be able to give a fight to seasoned politician and sitting MLA Girish Bapat of the BJP, Dhangekar said, “People are weary of the old and want a change. I am confident that they would elect me.”

Vasant More (35) said that he had embarked on his campaign a month ago, even before the formal announcement of his name on Monday. “I have now finished the first round of my door-to-door campaign and am fully prepared with all the campaign material and polling agents. Out of the 3.45 lakh voters in Hadapsar, the 36,000 young voters are sure to support MNS,” he said.

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