A senior leader of NCP, who did not want to be named, has confirmed that the duo are the forerunners for the two constituencies. “However, their names are to be officially announced,’’ he said.

The official announcement of all the candidates will be made on March 11 after the parliamentary board meeting on March 9-10 where interviews will be conducted, he said.

With the NCP supremo offering his hometown Baramati to his daughter Supriya Sule, it was earlier said that he will contest from Shirur, but on Saturday, Pawar made a formal announcment that he will contest from Madha constituency in Solapur, leaving the Shirur constituency for Lande.

When contacted, Lande said that he has been given a positive signal from the party and that he has already started touring the constituency. He will fac sitting Shiv Sena MP from Khed Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil as after the delimitation process, the Shirur constituency was created by merging areas of Khed constituency.