In an apparent departure from his earlier position that he would not contest the Lok Sabha polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Friday that he might consider contesting the forthcoming polls from Madha constituency in western Maharashtra, following the requests from his senior party colleagues.

Talking to mediapersons in Pune where he confabulated with his senior party colleagues on issues relating to the Lok Sabha polls, Pawar said, “I am not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha polls. Since all my party colleagues, including Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil (who is the sitting MP from Madha constituency) have insisted that I contest the polls this time, I may consider their request”.

The Madha Lok Sabha constituency, from where Pawar may contest, came into being on February 19, 2008 as a part of the delimitation exercise carried on the basis of recommendations made by the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in July 2012.

It comprises Assembly segments of Madha, Karmala, Sangole, Malshrias, all from Solapur district and Phaltan and Maan from Satara district.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections — held for the first time after the formation of this constituency, Pawar won this seat by trouncing the BJP candidate Subhash Deshmukh by massive margin of 3.14 lakh votes.

Pawar, however, chose not to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.  In his place, the NCP filed local heavy Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who managed to win the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Pawar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time in April 2014, had earlier been elected to Lok Sabha for seven terns. Of the seven Lok sabha terms, Pawar had represented his home constituency of Baramati for six terms, while Madha constituency sent him to the lower Parliament once in 2009.

One of the reasons for the NCP chief’s decision to reconsider his earlier not to contest LS is not to let the otherwise NCP’s “safe” seat to go out of the party’s control.