Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, has expressed his disappointment over the alleged favoritism in the suggested list of Congress leaders for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2024, which are scheduled for November 20.
Out of the 85 seats that the Congress is contesting, the party has already released the names of 48 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls. Rahul Gandhi has raised concerns about the list of candidate names submitted in the Congress Election Committee (CEC) meeting, suggesting that it appeared to show favoritism towards certain Maharashtra Congress leaders, as reported by India Today.
He also questioned the allocation of certain Congress strongholds to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in areas such as Vidarbha and Mumbai as part of the seat-sharing agreement within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
The MVA alliance consists of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP, who have agreed to contest 85 seats each in the upcoming polls.
So far, Uddhav Sena has declared candidates for 65 seats, while Congress has named candidates for 48 seats, and the NCP has announced candidates for 45 seats.
According to the alliance’s first list, Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray will be contesting the polls from Mumbai’s Worli. Other key names include Kedar Dighe, Rajan Vichare, and Varun Sardesai.
While Congress’s Wadettiwar has stated that the issue of seat sharing has been resolved, there is still a tussle over 18 of the 288 seats. Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi have threatened to field candidates on 25 seats if the opposition alliance fails to allocate five seats for his party’s candidates.
The Maharashtra Assembly election results will be declared on November 23.
