Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on released the party's first list of 17 candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections today.

Anil Desai will contest from the Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency.

Sanjay Raut said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is going to contest a total of 22 seats in the general elections and the remaining five names will be announced in a day or two. He also said in Hatkanangale, farmers' leader Raju Shetti has asked for the support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Of the names declared on Wednesday, 11 names were already announced by party chief Uddhav Thackeray during his visit to respective Lok Sabha constituencies in the last month.

The party has also renominated all five sitting MPs. Sitting MP Arvind Sawant will contest from the Mumbai South constituency, Sanjay Patil from Mumbai North East and Amol Kirtikar from the Mumbai North West constituency.

Rajan Vichare will contest from Thane, while Vinayak Raut has been given a ticket from Ratnagiri Sindhudurg. Sitting MPs Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani) and Omraje Nimbalkar (Osmanabad) have also been renominated.

The party will also contest Aurangabad, fielding former MP Chandrakant Khaire from the seat.

Interestingly, wrestler Chandrahar Patil has been fielded from Sangli, the seat that the Congress, a partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, was insisting on.

The Congress has declared its candidates on some seats where there is no tussle with its alliance partners.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is a constituent of the MVA in the state. Another MVA constituent, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) is yet to officially declare its candidates in the state for the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), will vote in five phases starting from April 19.