The Republican Party of India (Athawale), an ally of the ruling BJP, has fielded Deepak Nikalje, brother of jailed underworld gangster ChhotaRajan, from Phaltan Assembly constituency in Western Maharashtra, for the upcoming polls.

The RPI, led by Union minister Ramdas Athawale, has been given six seats as part of the seat-sharing deal between the BJP, Shiv Sena and other smaller allies for the October 21 state elections.

“RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale has declared that the party will contest six seats in the assembly elections and has already declared candidates for four seats, including Deepak Nikalje in Phaltan seat,” said an RPI(A) leader.

Nikalje, an office-bearer of RPI(A), had contested the assembly elections for the first time in 2009 but lost to Chandrakant Handore of Congress. His second attempt in 2014 was also unsuccessful as he was defeated by Shiv Sena’s Prakash Phaterpekar.

“This time he expressed willingness to fight the election from Phaltan since he hails from that area and has a good network there,” said a senior RPI leader.

Other five seats where RPI would be fielding candidates are Malshiras in Solapur district, Bhandara and Naigaon in Nanded district, Pathri in Parbhani and Mankhurd- Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai.

The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will go to the polls on October 21 while the results will be declared on October 24.

This time Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray will also make his debut from Worli. With this, Aaditya Thackeray will become the first member of the Thackeray family ever to contest an election.