Mumbai, Oct 30 (Reporter) Despite the deadline for filing of nominations for the Maharashtra Assembly election having passed, the BJP and the Congress have made significant changes to their candidates. The BJP has dropped eight sitting MLAs, while the Congress has replaced five. In addition, the two factions of NCP, one led by Ajit Pawar and other by his uncle Sharad Pawar, have each decided not to give tickets to two current MLAs. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has chosen to keep almost all of its MLAs who supported Shinde during a recent rebellion, except for one. The exact number of candidates from the ruling grand alliance (Mahayuti) and the opposition (Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi) is unclear, as some parties have submitted nominations for multiple candidates in certain areas. One surprising change by the BJP was the replacement of Sunil Rane, the MLA from Borivali in Mumbai, with Sanjay Upadhyay. Other incumbents who lost their tickets include Sandeep Dhurve from Arni and Namdev Sasane from Umarkhed, who will be replaced by Raju Todsam and Kisan Wankhede, respectively. The BJP also replaced Dada Kenche from Arvi and Vikas Kumbhare from Nagpur Central with new candidates Sumit Wankhede and Praveen Datke. Wankhede previously worked as an assistant to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Datke is a current member of the Legislative Council (MLC) for BJP. Interestingly, Ashwini Jagtap from Chinchwad has been replaced by her brother-in-law, Shankar Jagtap. The party has also chosen Sulabha Gaikwad, the wife of jailed MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, to run from Kalyan East. Ganpat was previously in the news for allegedly shooting at a rival party member inside a police station. Lakhan Malik, a four-time winner from Washim, has been replaced by Shyam Khode. In Congress, five current MLAs have been replaced. Hemant Ogale will contest from Shrirampur, taking over from Lahu Kanade. Former Zilla Parishad officer Rajkumar Puram will run in Amgaon instead of Sahasram Korote. Shirish Chaudhary will not seek re-election, instead, his son Dhananjay will run from Raver. The Congress also dropped Sulabha Khodke and Hiraman Khoskar from Amravati and Igatpuri seats, respectively, due to concerns about their loyalty to the party. Both candidates have now secured nominations from the NCP led by Ajit Pawar. Sunil Deshmukh will represent Congress in Amravati, while Lackybhau Jadhav will contest in Igatpuri. In the NCP-SP, Anil Deshmukh, the former Home minister and MLA from Katol, has been replaced by his son Salil Deshmukh. In the Madha constituency, the NCP has chosen Abhijeet Patil instead of Babanrao Shinde. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP also denied tickets to MLAs Manohar Chandrikapure from Arjuni Morgaon and Balasaheb Ajabe from Ashti, replacing them with former BJP minister Rajkumar Badole and ex-MLC Suresh Dhas, respectively. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has only dropped one sitting MLA, Shrinivas Vanga from Palghar, and has fielded former Lok Sabha member Rajendra Gavit in his place. Voting for 288 assembly seats in the state will take place on November 20, and the results will be announced on November 23...////...