It is likely to be a straight contest between Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Pratapdada Sonawane and the Congress-backed Teachers' Democratic Front (TDF) candidate, Gulabrao Bhosale.

There are 83,532 graduate voters in the constituency, comprising 30,722 in Nashik district, 20,850 in Ahmednagar, 18,545 in Jalgaon and 13,415 voters in Dhule district. The percentage of women graduates who have registered as voters in the constituency is, however, just l5 per cent.

The sitting MLC from the constituency is Professor Narayan Pharande of the BJP. Pharande was elected twice in succession from the Nashik division constituency. He is currently the chairman of the State Legislative Council. The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken special efforts to register the voters in all its pockets in the constituency.

The BJP nominee, Sonawane, is an industrialist,while Gulabrao Bhosale is a school headmaster in Jalgaon district. The candidature of Bhosale has been supported by the Congress, Janata Dal, the Republican Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The third candidate, Balasaheb Wamanrao Patil, is an employee of the Malegaon branch of the State Bank of India.

Interestingly, Patil might make things difficult for Sonawane as he is a close associate of State Health Minister Daulatrao Aher of the BJP.Secondly, in the previous election, the Congress had fielded its own candidate, Ramnath Wagh, while the Teachers' Democratic Front had supported Narendra Ahire.

Both were defeated by Pharande.