Hours after Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole’s announcement that the list of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha election would be unveiled in a day or two, the grand old party on Thursday released its first list of candidates for Maharashtra, featuring MLA Praniti Shinde, daughter of former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde contesting from Solapur, Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji Maharaj, a descendant of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, from Kolhapur, and Gowaal K. Padvi, son of former Minister K.C. Padvi from the tribal-dominated Nandurbar.
With Maharashtra boasting 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second most in the country after Uttar Pradesh, the election will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20, with vote counting scheduled for June 4. Mr. Patole, along with Congress Legislature Party leader Babasaheb Thorat, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, and AICC State in-charge Ramesh Chennithala attended the CEC meeting chaired by Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.
Sources told The Hindu that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would contest on 20 seats, while the Congress and the NCP (SP) would contest on 18 and 10 seats respectively. “The list includes former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti Shinde from Solapur, Vasant Chavan from Nanded and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj from Kolhapur,” they said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis took a jibe at the MVA over seat-sharing for Lok Sabha election and said that MVA leaders have been holding meetings for two months but haven’t reached a decision yet and the BJP, in just one meeting, took 80% decisions on seat-sharing.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar’s recent offer of support to Congress for seven Lok Sabha seats has added a new dimension to the political discourse, signalling potential shifts in alliances and strategies.
