Congress unveiled the initial roster of 48 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections on Thursday. The roster contains names of prominent leaders including ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan, state head Nana Patole, Opposition leader Vijay Wadettiwar, and Vishwajit Kadam. In addition, tickets have been given to Dheeraj and Amit, sons of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, along with legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat.
Nana Patole will run for elections in Sakoli, Thorat in Sangamner, Chavan in Karad South, while CWC member Naseem Khan will run in Chandivali and Wadettiwar in Brahmapuri seat. Varsha Gaikwad’s sister Jyoti Gaikwad has been nominated to contest from Dharavi.
Following the Lok Sabha elections, there will also be a clash within the Pawar family during the assembly elections. Ajit Pawar, the Deputy CM, will face competition from his nephew Yugendra Pawar in the Baramati assembly constituency. In the lineup of 45 candidates announced by NCP (Sharad) on Thursday, Sharad Pawar has nominated his grandson Yugendra Pawar from Baramati.
During the Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, competed against her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, daughter of veteran leader Sharad Pawar, for the Baramati parliamentary seat, which Supriya Sule ultimately won.
Congress has also made public a roster of 7 candidates for Jharkhand Assembly. Congress, running in partnership with JMM, has announced candidates for 28 out of the 30 seats they are contesting. The roster announced on Thursday also contains the Vishampur seat name, for which RJD has already named its candidate. A cordial competition will take place within the alliance for this position.
Alamgir Alam, the former minister of Hemant Soren government who is currently imprisoned for money laundering, has been replaced by his wife Nishat Alam as the candidate from Pakur. Suresh Kumar Baitha has been awarded a ticket for the reserved seat in Kanke in the Ranchi district.
Lal Suraj from Panki constituency in Palamu district, K.N. Tripathi from Daltonganj, and Radhakrishna Kishore from Chhatarpur reserved seat have been nominated as Congress candidates. Radhakrishna Kishore recently became a member of Congress just two days back. Nevertheless, he previously served as an MLA for this party.
Before that, the Congress had revealed contenders for 21 positions in its initial roster. Included in the list are Dr. Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Badal Patralekh from Jarmundi, Pradeep Yadav from Poraiyahat, Deepika Pandey Singh from Mahagama, Rameshwar Oraon from Lohardaga, Amba Prasad Sahu from Barkagaon, Kumar Jayamangal from Bermo, Purnima Neeraj Singh from Jharia, Banna Gupta from Jamshedpur West, Rajesh Kachhap from Khijri, Shilpi Neha Tirkey from Mandar, Bhushan Bada from Simdega, Naman Vikas Kongadi from Kolebira and Ramchandra Singh from Manika, Dr. Ajay Kumar from Jamshedpur East, Munna Singh from Hazaribagh Sadar seat, Mamta Devi from Ramgarh, Jaleshwar Mahato from Baghmara, Sona Ram Sinku from Jagarnathpur, Ajay Nath Shahdev from Hatia and Jaiprakash Patel from Mandu.