Congress announces first list of 48 candidates for Maharashtra polls, retains 25 sitting MLAs

The list comes a day after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) announced that they will contest 85 seats each out of a total 288

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and State unit chief Nana Patole are among 48 candidates that the Congress announced on Thursday (October 24, 2024) for the upcoming Assembly election in Maharashtra.

The party has retained 25 sitting MLAs in the first list.

The list comes a day after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) announced that they will contest 85 seats each. However, deliberations to seal a final pact are still underway. The three allies are discussing the sharing of the remaining 33 seats of the total 288 among themselves and smaller parties.

Mr. Chavan has been fielded from Karad South, Mr. Patole from Sakoli and Mr. Wadettiwar from Brahmapuri.

The party also fielded former Ministers Nitin Raut and Balasaheb Thorat from Nagpur North and Sangamner, respectively, along with Jyoti Eknath Gaikwad from Dharavi, Amit Deshmukh from Latur City and Dheeraj Deshmukh from Latur Rural.

Mr. Amit and Mr. Dheeraj are the sons of former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart late Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Ms. Jyoti is the sister of Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad, who was Dharavi MLA for four terms before being elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

Mohammad Aarif Naseem Khan has been fielded from Chandivali, Aslam Sheikh from Malad West, Ranjit Kamble from Deoli and Vikas Thakre from Nagpur West.

In Raver in Jalgaon district, the party has fielded Dhananjay Chaudhari, son of sitting MLA Shirish Chaudhari. Muzafar Hussain has been fielded from Mira Bhayander in Thane district.

In Bhokar, the contest will be between Congress’s Trupti Kondekar and BJP’s Srijaya Chavan, daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan, a former Chief Minister who quit the Congress to join the ruling party recently.

Meenal Khatgaonkar has been fielded by the Congress from Naigaon, while Praful Gudadhe will take on senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West Assembly seat.

The Congress has given tickets to former MLAs Gopaldas Agarwal and Sunil Deshmukh from Gondia and Amravati, respectively. These two leaders had joined the BJP but returned to the Congress recently.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20. The votes will be counted on November 23.

Published - October 25, 2024 01:48 am IST