The central election committee (CEC) of the Congress on Wednesday is believed to have cleared the names of 12 candidates from Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, including Praniti Shinde from Solapur, daughter of former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
The Congress is yet to announce its formal seat sharing arrangement with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party as part of their Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.
On Thursday, the MVA allies would be meeting, following which the seat-sharing arrangement could be formally announced. The party is likely to release its third list very soon, said sources.
However, in its fourth meeting, the party’s election panel is said to have cleared 12 names from Maharashtra.
The panel has also cleared seven names each from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
CEC meet on Thursday
Former Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, Paresh Dhanaji, could be fielded from the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat, where the Congress is contesting the polls in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party.
In Rajasthan, Sunil Sharma’s name has been cleared for Jaipur city seat while Kuldeep Indira would be fielded from Ganganagar.
The election panel will meet again on Thursday to discuss candidates for the Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh constituencies, which are set to vote in the first phase of the election.
So far, the party has announced the names of 82 candidates, including that of Rahul Gandhi from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency.
