The Congress on Saturday released its second list of candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections, retaining sitting MLA Kailash Gorantyal from Jalna and nominating Anuja Kedar, the wife of party leader Sunil Kedar, for the Saoner seat.
The list follows discussions by the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) on candidate selection for the polls. The Congress had earlier declared 48 candidates in its first list, bringing the total to 71 with this latest announcement.
Anuja Kedar is entering the race from Saoner in Nagpur district, replacing her husband, Sunil Kedar, who has been disqualified from contesting elections for six years following a conviction in the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB) scam. MLA Kailash Gorantyal has been retained in Jalna.
In its first list, Congress retained 25 incumbent MLAs. Senior leader and former deputy speaker Vasant Purke, who lost in 2019, will run again from Ralegaon (Yavatmal), while Shivajirao Moghe, also a 2019 contender, steps aside for his son Jitendra from the Arni seat (Yavatmal).
In Mumbai, the Congress has nominated Kalu Badheliya for Kandivali East, Ganesh Yadav for Sion Koliwada, and Yashwant Singh for Charkop. In other regions, Suresh Bhoyar will face off against state BJP chief Chandrashekar Bawankule at Kamptee (Nagpur), and Shekhar Shende, son of former assembly speaker Pramod Shende, will run in Wardha.
Speaking after the CEC meeting, party leader Ramesh Chennithala, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Maharashtra, emphasized the party’s unity within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. “The MVA is contesting unitedly, and we have no differences. We will fight together to realize the dreams of the people of Maharashtra,” Chennithala said, expressing confidence in MVA’s victory.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Nana Patole stated that MVA expects to perform even better in the assembly polls than in the Lok Sabha elections, aiming to form a full-majority government. AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal echoed this sentiment on X, sharing photos of the CEC meeting and expressing optimism for an MVA win.
The Congress previously announced its first list of candidates, which included Patole running from Sakoli, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from Karad South, and Leader of the Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar from Brahmapuri.
