Congress names 39 candidates including 5 for Mumbai

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), of which Congress is a part, is yet to arrive at an understanding on the division of seats in Mumbai.

The Congress on Saturday released two separate lists of 23 and 16 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. It has nominated former state unit chief Manikrao Thakre from Digras, Asif Zakaria from Vandre (Bandra) west and Sachin Sawant from Andheri west. It renominated two sitting MLAs Kailash Gorantyal from Jalna and Moham Hambarde from Nanded South but denied tickets to two other MLAs, Sahasram Korote from Amgaon and Lahu Kanade from Shrirampur.

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut, Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) leader Anil Deshmukh address a joint press conference ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election, in Mumbai. (File image) (Nitin Lawate)

In Mumbai, the party has nominated candidates for five constituencies: Asif Zakaria for Vandre West, Sachin Sawant for Andheri West, Ganesh Kumar Yadav for Sion-Koliwada, Yashwant Singh for Charkop, and Kalu Badheliya for Kandivali East. Zakaria will contest against Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, Sawant to run against two-term sitting BJP MLA Ameet Satam, Yadav will contest against two-term sitting BJP MLA Tamil Selvan; Singh will take on three-term sitting BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar and Badeliya will fight against two-term sitting BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar.

Rajkumar Puram has been named as the candidate from Amgaon while Hemant Ogale has been nominated from Shrirampur. Amgaon has never reelected an incumbent since 1962 while Shrirampur has been a Congress bastion for many decades.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), of which Congress is a part, is yet to arrive at an understanding on the division of seats in Mumbai. Seats on which there is no consensus within the alliance yet include Versova, Vandre West, Vile Parle, Colaba and Anushakti Nagar.

“There are a few seats which require discussion and some need to be exchanged for which I met Uddhav ji. We will contest the assembly polls as a united front,” Congress legislative party chief Balasaheb Thorat said on Saturday after meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence Matoshree. Thorat was accompanied by the party’s Mumbai president and MP Varsha Gaikwad.

Congress’ second list includes nominations for two seats previously disputed between Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT): Girish Pandav for Nagpur South and Suresh Bhoyar for Kamthi constituency. Additionally, Anuja Kedar has been nominated from the Savner constituency. She is the wife of senior leader Sunil Kedar, who was disqualified from contesting elections for six years following his conviction in a multi-crore scam.

For the Arni seat in Yavatmal, the Congress has chosen Jitendra Moghe, son of Congress loyalist Shivajirao Moghe, a five-term MLA who lost against BJP candidates in 2014 and 2019. It will be Jitendra’s debut election.

Vasant Purke, another Congress loyalist and former minister, has been nominated from Ralegaon in Yavatmal district. The four-term MLA was defeated by BJP’s Ashok Uike in the 2014 and 2019 assembly polls.

In its first list, Congress had declared 48 candidates. With the release of the second and third lists, the total number of candidates fielded by the party has risen to 87.

The party has nominated Nivrutorao Kamble and Lakibhau Jadhav from Deglur and Igatpuri seats respectively; it won both seats in 2019. Deglur Congress MLA Jitesh Antapurkar joined the BJP while Igatpuri Congress MLA Hiraman Khoskar joined the NCP recently. Congress has further nominated Hanmantrao Patil-Betmogarekar from Mukhed. He was considered close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan who defected to BJP, but he chose to stay with the Congress.

The Congress has also fielded Ejaz Beg from Malegaon Central and Dayanand Choraghe from Bhiwandi West. Other Congress candidates include Rana Sananda (Khamgaon), Hemant Chimote (Melghat), Manohar Poreti (Gadhchiroli), Shirishkumar Kotwal (Chandwad), Lakibhau Jadhav (Igatpuri), Kuldeep Patil (Tuljapur), Rajesh Latkar (Kolhapur north) and Prithviraj Patil (Sangli).