Congress may field Urmila Matonkdar from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, say reports; to be pitted against BJP's Gopal Shetty

Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar may be given a Congress Lok Sabha ticket from the Mumbai North constituency, according to several media reports. A Deccan Chronicle report said the actress will be given a ticket to take on sitting BJP MP Gopal Shetty, who defeated former MP Sanjay Nirupam in the 2014 general elections. Party insiders said Matondkar will join the Congress in a few days, after which her candidature will be announced, the report said. [caption id=“attachment_6331081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of actress Urmila Matondkar. Image courtesy: Facebook/Urmila Matondkar[/caption] The 45-year-old actress’ manager refused to comment, according to India Today. Govinda earlier contested and won the seat in 2004. The Mumbai North Central constituency from where a Bollywood celebrity was elected. Sunil Dutt won from the seat five times. Milind Deora replaced Nirupam as the state Congress chief on Monday, when the latter was given a ticket from the Mumbai North West constituency. Mumbai has six Lok Sabha constituencies — Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North West and Mumbai North — which will go to polls on 29 April. Lok Sabha elections will be held in Maharashtra over four phases: 11, 18, 23 and 29 April. While the BJP and Shiv Sena have entered into an alliance for these polls, the Opposition alliance consists of the Congress, NCP, Swabhimani Shetkari Sangh, Bahujan Vikash Aghadi and independent candidate Ravi Rana. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have also entered into an alliance to contest in Maharashtra.