Maharashtra congress gears up for elections appoints 13 observers

Maharashtra congress gears up for elections appoints 13 observers

The Congress on Tuesday appointed 13 senior leaders as division-wise observers for the November 20 assembly polls in Maharashtra, where the party and its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP(SP) aim to repeat their performance of collectively winning 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections this summer.

According to a press communique from Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, the party has assigned former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Karnataka minister G Parameshwara as senior observers for Mumbai and Konkan region while former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Charanjit Singh Channi and former Madhya Pradesh minister Umang Singha will look after the Vidarbha region (Amravati and Nagpur).

Former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot and Telangana minister Uttam Kumar Reddy will oversee the Marathwada region, while former Chhattisgarh deputy CM TS Singhdeo and Karnataka minister MB Patil will take care of western Maharashtra.

Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasser Hussain and Telangana minister Anasuya Seethakka will look after North Maharashtra, it said.

Senior leaders Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande have been appointed Maharashtra state election senior coordinators.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly will be held on November 20 and results will be announced on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.

Coming out of a recent poll debacle in Haryana, the Congress will have its task cut out in Maharashtra, where the MVA is up against the ruling Mahayuti — a coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Paway-led NCP. Both alliances are yet to announce their seat-sharing arrangements.