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Congress likely to field all its sitting MLAs in Maharashtra Assembly elections
The Congress has won 42 and NCP 41 seats in the Assembly polls held in 2014. Both the parties are currently struggling with mass exodus of their MLAs and senior leaders.
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The Congress is likely to nominate all its sitting MLAs in the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra to be held by October. The decision was taken in the screening committee meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Congress has won 42 and NCP 41 seats in the Assembly polls held in 2014. Both the parties are currently struggling with mass exodus of their MLAs and senior leaders.
The Congress has concluded discussions for around 50 to 60 Assembly seats.
The list includes Karad constituency, which is represented by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The party wants former chief minister Ashok Chavan to contest instead of his wife and sitting MLA Amita Chavan.
The screening committee meeting was called to finalise names of the candidates. Senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is the head of the committee. Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge was also present for the meet.
“We have finalised discussions on almost 60 assembly seats of the 100 seats discussed today. The party has decided to field all its sitting MLA’s this time. We are planning to release the first list of candidates before election code of conduct is imposed,” said a senior Congress leader wishing not to be named.
“Instead of Amita Chavan, the party wants Ashok Chavan to contest the polls. Prithviraj Chavan will also contest the state polls,” said state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat told a news channel.
Meanwhile, the NCP is likely to leave Indapur Assembly seat for Congress after senior Congress leader Harshavardhan Patil issued a veiled threat to join the BJP.
Thorat said, “The NCP chief is positive over leaving Indapur assembly seat for Patil. He (Pawar) doesn’t want him to join the BJP. He seems to be unhappy after the assurance given during Lok Sabha polls was not followed by the NCP. Currently, Patil is not reachable.” Indapur was in the Congress quota in the seat-sharing agreement between Congress and NCP, but an NCP candidate won from there in 2014 when both parties contested separately.
