Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress finalises names of 12 candidates for Maharashtra, 3rd list soon

The central election committee (CEC) of the Congress is learnt to have cleared the names of 12 candidates from Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Those finalised include, Praniti Shinde, daughter of former Union Home Minister . Praniti is likely to be fielded from the Solapur seat.

The party is yet to announce its formal seat-sharing formula with its (MVA) partners- the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party. The MVA parties are scheduled to meet on March 21 following which the third list of the Congress will be released, sources said.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, the NDA (including un-divided Shiv Sena) won 41 of the 48 seats of Maharashtra. The NCP won four seats while the Congress could won one seat. 

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In the two lists, the Congress has so far announced candidates for 82 Lok Sabha seats of the total 543 seats. In its , the Congress released names of 39 candidates, which included Rahul Gandhi, DK Suresh and Shashi Tharoor. The party's second list released on March 12 had 43 names including Gaurav Gogoi, Nakul Nath and Vaibhav Gehlot.

In its two lists released so far, the (BJP) has announced names of 267 candidates of which two have opted out.

The seven-phase begins on April 19. The results will be declared on June 4. The nominations for the first phase have  begun since Wednesday.

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The Wednesday meeting also cleared names of seven candidates each for Gujarat and Rajasthan. Reports suggested that Paresh Dhanaji, former Leader of  Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly could be fielded from the seat in Gujarat. The party is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Rajkot in alliance with the -led Aam Aadmi Party.

Similarly in Rajasthan, Sunil