The hunt for an SP candidate is understood to be zeroing down on ex-service men, so as to cash in on the presence of around 1.5 lakh retired defence personnel in Pune. Senior party leaders have urged the city unit of SP to look for an able candidate from among the ex-servicemen.

“The SP is keen to contest the Pune Lok Sabha seat and would soon announce its party candidature,” city SP chief Anees Ahmed said.

“The ex-servicemen community in the city has people from all over the country cutting across regional and religious divides. This can contribute in strengthening the party that has a strong following from Dalit and Muslim community,” Ahmed said.

He said there is demand from party workers to give the Pune ticket to someone from the Dalit or Muslim community, but a final decision was yet to be taken by the party leaders.

Meanwhile, BSP’s attempt at social engineering by making D S Kulkarni, a Bramhin, its candidate has stumped the party think tank to some extent. The party has been waiting for the Congress-NCP alliance to accommodate it with three seats in the state — South Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Malegaon. “This is unlikely to happen. So the party is preparing to contest in 15 seats across the state,” he said.

State SP chief Abu Azmi had recently toured the city to take stock of the situation.