The Hindu : National : Congress declares 147 candidates for Maharashtra polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004

National

National

Congress declares 147 candidates for Maharashtra polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 20. After four days of hectic confabulations, the Congress tonight declared 147 candidates for the October 13 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The party is contesting 154 seats and the Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, will contest again from Solapur South.

Under the seat-sharing pact with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress got 163 seats. It left nine seats to its allies, including four to the Left parties, one to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, two to the Republican Party of India (Gavai) and two to Independents.

The NCP and its allies will contest 125 seats in the 288-strong Assembly.

Prominent candidates

Prominent among the candidates declared are the State Home Minister, Kripashankar Singh (Santa Cruz), the former Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh (Latur), the former Pradesh Congress chief, Ranjeet Deshmukh (Nagpur West) and senior leader Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar (Nilanga). Maloji Shahu Chhatrapati (Kolhapur), a descendent of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mushtak A. Antulay, a relative of the former Chief Minister, A.R. Antulay, and Ashok Chavan (Mudkhed), son of the former Chief Minister, S.B. Chavan, also figure in the list.

Releasing the list, the AICC general secretary, Margaret Alva, and the State Congress chief, Prabha Rau, said the party had brought in nearly 35 fresh faces. Of the 74 MLAs, some had been denied re-nomination.

"A proper balance has been maintained and we have given ticket to new people, which shows that the party is building a second line of leadership," Ms. Alva said.

Also, nearly two-dozen persons from the minority communities find a place in the list.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National