Within days after Sharad Pawar agreed to reconsider his earlier decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls, the NCP on Thursday announced that its president Pawar would contest the Lok Sabha polls from Madha constituency in western Maharashtra.

Talking to media persons after Pawar confabulated with senior party leaders and office bearers on the preparations for the Lok Sabha polls, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said: “At the previous meeting, we had requested Pawar saheb to contest from Madha constituency. He has accepted our request and will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Madha constituency”.

Patel expressed confidence that the Congress-NCP alliance-led Mahaghatbhandan would win 35 out of total 48 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

At the meeting held earlier in the afternoon, the NCP is understood to have finalised the names of a majority of its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. “We (NCP and Congress) have come to an informal understanding about the sharing of seats for the Lok Sabha polls. Currently we are in talks with other constituents of Mahaghatbhandan. We intend to announce the list of all Mahaghatbhandan candidates little over a week from over now,” a senior NCP leader said.

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.