Congress replaces candidate for third time in Maharashtra, fields 2 in Jharkhand

The Congress on Monday announced a combined list of six candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The party has nominated four candidates in Maharashtra, including a replacement for the third time, and two in Jharkhand.
In Maharashtra, the Congress announced candidates from Kolhapur North, Akola West, Colaba in south Mumbai and Solapur City Central. Of these, Madhurimaraje Malojiraje Chhatrapati, a royal family member, replaced Rajesh Latkar from Kolhapur North. This is the third time the party has replaced a contestant.
On Sunday, it replaced Sachin Sawant from Andheri West with former MLA Ashok Jadhav. In Aurangabad East seat, the party replaced Madhukar Deshmukh with Lahu Shewale.
Sajid Khan Mannan Khan, Heera Devasi and Chetan Narote have been fielded from Akola West, Colaba and Solapur City Central seats, respectively. With this, the Congress has so far announced candidates for 102 of 288 Assembly seats.
The grand old party is a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. So far, the alliance have declared candidates on 268 seats. Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) have fielded their candidates on 84 and 82 seats, respectively.
Maharashtra will vote in a single phase on November 20. Counting of votes will be held on November 23.
The Congress on Monday released its final list of two candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls, fielding Sweta Singh from Bokaro and Ajay Dubey from Dhanbad. With this, the party has declared a total of 30 candidates for the Assembly polls that will be held in two phases next month.
Sweta Singh is the daughter-in-law of the late Samresh Singh, who was elected as an MLA on a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket from Bokaro in 2009.
Earlier, the Congress had declared two lists of 21 and seven candidates in Jharkhand.
The Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) alliance has been in power in the eastern state since 2019.
Polling in Jharkhand, which has 81 Assembly seats, will be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 23.