Congress to contest 3 Council seats in Maharashtra

Congress today said it will contest three seats in the biennial elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council on March 20.
State Congress president Manikrao Thakre today met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to discuss the candidates as the terms of Congress leaders - Jaiprakash Chhajed and Legislative Council chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh - are ending.
"We will finalise our list tomorrow. We have shortlisted a dozen names at the meeting, and the candidates will be announced after consultation with the party leadership in Delhi," Thakre said.
"Congress will field three candidates. In the last election, our candidate Sudhakar Gangane lost because of cross-voting. This time we have more votes," party sources said.

The 288 members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college. The lone nominated member can also vote. There will be one voter less due to the death of Congress MLA Subhash Zanak.
Congress has 81 MLAs besides support of some independents. A candidate would need 29 votes to win.
The terms of NCP's Hemant Takle, Sanjay Patil, Kiran Pawaskar and Rana Jagatjit Singh are ending, as are those of Shiv Sena's Neelam Gorhe, and BJP's Vinod Tawde and Pandurang Phundkar.
NCP has fielded Pawaskar again along with Takle and Anand Thakur this time while Shiv Sena has announced the candidature of Gorhe and Rahul Narvekar. BJP is yet to announce its candidates.