New Delhi: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress met again on Friday evening to discuss the candidates for the seats which the party would be contesting in the Maharashtra assembly elections. The party had announced its first list of 48 candidates for elections to the 288-member house on Thursday. The CEC meeting was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended, among others, by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal.
Statement Of Congress Leader KC Venugopal
During the meeting, the issue of seat-sharing and finalisation of the candidates was taken up. Following the meeting, Venugopal said, “In a democracy there will also be a little bit of difference (between allies)”, but “the MVA has a common goal to return Maharashtra to its old glory”.
Prior to the CEC meeting, the screening committee of the Congress met to shortlist the candidates for the seat from which the party is yet to announce its candidates. The Maharashtra in-charge of Congress Ramesh Chennithala said that “discussions on all the seats to be contested by the party were held”.
In 2019, the Congress fought the elections as part of the United Progressive Alliance along with the undivided NCP. Both these parties had contested 125 seats each and the Congress had won 44 while the NCP had won 54. This time the Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). Though the three parties have declared that they have come to an agreement on contesting 85 seats each, the Congress is keen on contesting over 100.
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