LS polls: Cong declares 4 candidates from Maharashtra; fields sitting MLA against Gadkari in Nagpur

The Congress on Saturday night declared four candidates for Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra, fielding MLA Vikas Thakre against Union minister and BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.With this, the Congress, a constituent of MVA, has so far declared 11 candidates from Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to Lok Sabha.The fresh list includes four constituencies- Nagpur, Ramtek SC, Bhandara-Gondiya, and Gadchiroli-Chimur- out of the five that will go to polls in the first phase on April 19.Congress has fielded Nagpur West MLA Vikas Thakare from this LS seat against Nitin Gadkari.

The Congress on Saturday night declared four candidates for Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra, fielding MLA Vikas Thakre against Union minister and BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.

With this, the Congress, a constituent of MVA, has so far declared 11 candidates from Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to Lok Sabha.

The fresh list includes four constituencies- Nagpur, Ramtek (SC), Bhandara-Gondiya, and Gadchiroli-Chimur- out of the five that will go to polls in the first phase on April 19.

Congress has fielded Nagpur West MLA Vikas Thakare from this LS seat against Nitin Gadkari. Other candidates are Rashmi Barve from Ramtek (reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates), Prashant Padole from Bhandara-Gondiya, and Namdeo Kirsan from Gadchiroli-Chimur.

Barve is Nagpur Zilla Parishad's president.

Notably, senior Congress leader Nitin Raut wanted the Ramtek seat for his son Kunal Raut.

In Chandrapur, the fifth constituency going to polls in the first phase, the Congress has to choose between state opposition leader Vijay Wadettiwar's daughter Shivani and local MLA Pratibha Dhanorkar.

Chandrapur was the only Lok Sabha constituency won by the Congress in Maharashtra in the 2019 elections.

The BJP has fielded state minister Sudhir Mungantiwar from Chandrapur.

The last date for filing nominations for the first phase of elections is March 27. ` Gadkari's challenger Vikas Thakre is the incumbent president of Nagpur city Congress. A former Mayor of Nagpur municipal corporation, Thakre had defeated BJP's Sudhakar Deshmukh in the 2019 assembly elections. He is the former chairman of Nagpur Improvement Trust.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 5 of the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in the Vidarbha region, including Nagpur, Akola, Wardha, Bhandara-Gondiya and Gadchiroli-Chimur, while the Shiv Sena (undivided) had bagged three.