“The decision to field Yugendra from Baramati was taken following demands by the local party cadre. He is young and educated, and a fresh face was preferred,” Patil said, while expressing confidence of the party winning the seat.

This is the second family fight within the Pawar family in their pocket borough Baramati. In the first electoral battle within the family, NCP (SP) working president and MP Supriya Sule, daughter of party chief Sharad Pawar, defeated NCP candidate Sunetra Pawar, wife of her cousin Ajit Pawar, to win the Baramati Lok Sabha seat this year.

The Lok Sabha victory in the high-profile contest by a huge margin has given a boost to the NCP (SP) against the NCP in the constituency in the run-up to the Assembly elections. The NCP (SP) has been promoting Yugendra in the Baramati Assembly segment since the Lok Sabha elections, where he played a major role in the election campaign of Sule and managed to ensure a lead of over 48,000 votes for her against his aunt Sunetra.

While renominating all the loyal legislators who stood by party chief Sharad Pawar during the rebellion by his nephew Ajit Pawar, the NCP (SP) on Friday, in another family fight, pitted Bhagayshri Atram against his father Dharambaba Atram of the NCP in Aheri. Among the new faces fielded by the NCP (SP) is Rohit RR Patil, son of late state minister RR Patil, Tasgaon Kawthemahkal.

The NCP (SP) has pitted Devdutt Nikam against Dilip Walse-Patil of the NCP in Ambegaon. The list of candidates includes loyalists Jayant Patil from Islampur, Anil Deshmukh from Katol, Rajesh Tope from Ambad Ghansawangi, Balasaheb Patil from Karad North, Jitendra Awhad from Mumbra-Kalwa, Shashikant Shinde from Koregaon, Ashok Pawar from Shirur and Rohit Pawar from Karjat Jamkhed. .

The party has fielded Harshwardhan Patil from Indapur, Sandeep Naik from Belapur, Bapu Pathare from Vadgaonsheri, and Samarjit Ghatge in Kagal, who recently left the BJP to join the party. It has also fielded Rajendra Shingane from Sindhkhedraja, who left the NCP and joined the NCP (SP). Rani Lanke, wife of MP Nilesh Lanke, has been fielded from Parner, which her husband won in the previous election. Lanke had quit the NCP to join the NCP (SP) ahead of the Assembly elections and was elected to the Lok Sabha by defeating then sitting BJP MP Sujay Vikhe-Patil in Ahmednagar.

State women wing NCP (SP) chief Rohini Khadse has been fielded from Muktainagar, which her father Eknath Khadse represented for long. Pune city NCP chief Prashant Jagtap has been pitted against sitting NCP legislator Chetan Tupe from Hadapsar.

“The NCP (SP) has given candidature to a few who recently joined the party after considering their strength in the respective Assembly constituencies. In fact, there were many who wanted to join the party. We did not take those with a tainted image,” Patil said.

He said the second list would be declared in the next two days after the seat-sharing is completed within the MVA.