Urmila Matondkar to contest from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat; actor will be up against BJP's sitting MP Gopal Shetty

Actor-turned politician Urmila Matondkar will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket, said the party's Maharashtra unit in a press release on Friday. She will be up against BJP's sitting MP Gopal Shetty. The announcement comes two days after she joined the grand old party.

Urmila Matondkar to contest from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/LrzBiAa5QF

— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2019

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. While the BJP and Shiv Sena have entered into an alliance for these polls in the state, 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. Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora had on Thursday said that he has requested the high command to give a Lok Sabha ticket to the 45-year-old actor.

I welcome Urmila Matondkar's nomination as the Congress candidate for Mumbai North! Urmila will be a powerful voice for freedom of speech and expression in Parliament. We need artistes who will fight back against hate, against fear, against censorship. — Milind Deora (@milinddeora) March 29, 2019

The party has already announced candidates from the other four seats in Mumbai that the party is contesting.

Matondkar will be the second Bollywood personality to contest from the Mumbai North seat. Earlier, Congress had fielded Govinda from North Mumbai who won the seat in 2004. The Mumbai North constituency, experts say, has always been a bastion of the BJP and the Shiv Sena.