2019 re-run in both seats: Cong fields former minister Bagwe from Cantonment, Bahirat from Shivajinagar

Bagwe will face sitting MLA Sunil Kamble of the BJP, whom he fought against in the 2019 Assembly elections . A seasoned campaigner, Bagwe is a two-time MLA, having won from the Parvati constituency in 2004 and then from the Cantonment seat in 2009 following the delimitation of the Assembly constituencies. However, the seat was wrested from him by Dilip Kamble of the BJP in the 2014 Assembly polls.

There has been dissent in the Congress camp in the run-up to the elections over Bagwe’s re-nomination.

His rivals within the party have been harping on the fact that he had lost the last two elections and that it was now time for a change.
However, Bagwe cited the past works done in the constituency and also the support he draws from the Matang and other minority communities.

“I have been nominated entirely on my merit. I am a Congress loyalist, worked for the party in different capacities and even ensured that this constituency delivered a strong lead for Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar during the recent Lok Sabha elections,” 71-year old Bagwe told The Indian Express.

He will file his nomination form on October 29. Arvind Shinde, city Congress chief, told The Indian Express, “Whoever the party nominates we will ensure that he gets elected.”

Reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, the constituency has 2.9 lakh voters.

Meanwhile, in the Shivajinagar constituency, Datta Bahirat will once again face BJP’s sitting MLA Siddharth Shirole.

In 2019 the Assembly elections, Bahirat had lost to Shirole by a narrow margin of 5,200 votes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate Murlidhar Mohol had secured a small lead of 3,000 votes from Shivajinagar assembly seat.

“Bahirat is easily accessible to people. He has been working relentlessly in the constituency for the last five years,” said Congress general secretary Ramesh Iyer.