Maharashtra Assembly polls: Congress clears names of 100 candidates; Prithviraj Chavan may contest Satara bypoll, say sources

New Delhi: The Central Election Committee of the Congress on Thursday met for a second time to select candidates for the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls and is learnt to have finalised nominees in about 100 constituencies so far. [caption id=“attachment_5810611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] The CEC, at its meeting a few days ago, had given clearance to about 65 candidates while on Thursday, a consensus was reached on over 30 names, sources said. After the CEC meeting, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Balasaheb Thorat told reporters that the names for 45 seats sent by the screening committee were discussed and 32 were approved. The sources said the names of candidates for the remaining seats will also be finalised soon. For the Satara Lok Sabha constituency bypoll, the name of former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is being considered by the Congress, sources said. The bypoll has been necessitated after the sitting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP from the Western Maharashtra seat, Udayanraje Bhosale, jumped the ship and joined the ruling BJP earlier this month. Of the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, the Congress and the NCP have decided to contest 125 each, leaving the rest for smaller allies.