Making polling necessary for 10 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ally, Rayat Kranti Sanghatana chief and outgoing legislator, Sadabhau Khot, filed his nomination for the June 20 Legislative Council polls as the BJP-backed independent. He will be in addition to the BJP’s five official candidates. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominated two senior leaders officially and one as a dummy. In all now there are 13 nominees in the fray.

Khot’s nomination came as a surprise on Thursday morning as he was invited to the BJP leaders' meet and made to enter the race as an independent. He was a minister of state in the previous government. As expected, the NCP nominated the chairman of legislative council Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and former BJP leader Eknath Khadse.