BJP in Maharashtra began the process of finalising its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
Even though no names were finalised, party sources said senior leader Kirit Somaiya and Yuva Morcha leader Poonam Mahajan were in the running for Mumbai North East, while Gopal Shetty and Hemendra Mehta for Mumbai North parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse, his counterpart in the council Vinod Tawde, senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Pandurang Phundkar, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar and Atul Bhatkalkar were prominent among those present at the meeting, which was chaired by state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis.
The 15 seats are Pune, Baramati, Mumbai North, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Latur, Wardha, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Solapur, Sangli, Dhule and Nandurbar.
A team of observers comprising Tawde, Khadse and Mungantiwar had toured the 15 constituencies in the last few days, interviewed aspiring candidates, discussed political situation in the constituencies and party strategy.
Tawde told that party leaders will meet again next week to take a final decision on the list of candidates to be forwarded to the central parliamentary board. Raju Shetty’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana and Mahadev Jamkar’s Rashtriya Samaj Party, both new allies of BJP, are staking claim for the Maadha Lok Sabha seat.
Jamkar had contested the 2009 poll against Sharad Pawar. The party has already finalised its list of candidates for 10 seats, including Gopinath Munde for Beed and Nitin Gadkari for Nagpur.


The Bombay High Court upheld a police order barring Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi from speaking on ‘Hindu Muslim harmony’ at a function in Thane, saying it could not interfere with administrative order.
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who is behind bars in the July 13, 2011 blasts case, had planned to blow up a police van in the crowded Dadar area, but could not do so as it had moved away by the time he reached there, sources in the Maharashtra ATS said here today.
A week after Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh resigned to join the Bharatiya Janata Party; the top post is still lying vacant. The Nationalist Congress Party accused the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan of delaying to take a decision on the matter. “It is very unfortunate that since one week there is no CP for Mumbai city. The proposal has been put up to the CM. Hopefully he will take a decision soon,” said NCP leader Nawab Malik.
BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on Friday stood by the defamation complaint filed by him with the magistrate’s court here against Union Minister of Information and Communication Manish Tewari, and sought that the court take cognisance of it and initiate further process.
Hindi film actor Nana Patekar has reportedly turned down an offer by the BJP to contest the upcoming 2014 General Elections from Mumbai North Central constituency against Congress’ Priya Dutt. 
The Congress finally has finally bowed down to the demands of NCP by accepting the 26:22 seat sharing agreement with the party. The seat sharing issue has always remained a bone of contention between both the parties. Earlier, the Congress had asked the NCP to accept the 26:19 formula based on its performance in the assembly and Lok Sabha election. NCP nonetheless opposed and said that it won’t accepting anything less than 22 seats. The deadlock between both the parties arises whenever elections are scheduled to be held in the state.