Congress names candidates for three Maharashtra Council seats

Mumbai, Oct 3 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday announced its candidates for three Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council elections, renominating two sitting members.

The party, in a release, stated MLC Abhijit Wanjari will contest from the Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency, and member Jayant Dinkar Asagaonkar from the Pune Division Teachers' seat.

The party has fielded newcomer Aditi Pohare from the Amravati Teachers' constituency for the polls.

Polling for the five Legislative Council seats, including three Graduates' and two Teachers' constituencies, will take place on October 23.

Earlier this week, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance — comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Shiv Sena (UBT) — announced its plan to contest the upcoming biennial polls jointly.

The decision was taken in a meeting attended by senior Congress leader Naseem Khan, NCP (SP) leaders Shashikant Shinde and Harshwardhan Patil, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

Khan had said that talks were held for the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (previously Aurangabad) Graduates' held by the NCP, Pune Graduates' held by the NCP (SP), and Amravati Teachers' held by an independent.

NCP's Satish Chavan from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates' constituency, Arun Lad of the NCP (SP) from the Pune Graduates' constituency and Kiran Sarnaik of the Shiv Sena from the Amravati Teachers' constituency — are retiring on December 6.

As per the election schedule, the last date for filing nominations is October 6, and the last date for withdrawal is October 9.