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On Friday, the opposition Maha VIkas Aghadi declared seats to be contested by the alliance partners with the NCP (SP) set to contest the Pune, Thane and Satara Legislative Council seats from respective local body authorities of the 17 seats for which elections are scheduled in June. “The Congress will be contesting eight seats while the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest four seats while a decision on the remaining two seats is yet to be taken,” said state Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal.

In Pune, the elections for state Legislative Council seat from local body authorities is considered to be the first attempt by parties to take over the reins of politics in the district after the demise of Ajit Pawar, who had complete control over the district for a long time.

On the other hand, the NCP wants to retain hold in Pune district. City NCP chief Sunil Tingre had rubbished the claims of alliance partner BJP of having more strength in the local body authorities. “The NCP has the maximum number of elected representatives in the local civic bodies of Pune and should contest the Legislative Council seat in seat sharing arrangement in the Mahayuti alliance,” he said, adding the party has many aspirants to contest the seat.

The number of elected representatives of NCP (SP) in local body authorities in Pune are less but it hopes to gain from the division of votes of the Mahayuti alliance.