Maharashtra Assembly polls: Congress shows confidence in sitting legislators Dhangekar, Thopte and Jagtap

In its first list of 45 candidates, Congress has retained the sitting legislators from Pune district as candidates in the assembly election.

Dhangekar had defeated BJP candidate Hemant Rasane in the bypoll after the death of sitting BJP legislator Mukta Tilak. (Express)

Displaying confidence in sitting legislators to keep the party presence intact in Pune district, the Congress on Thursday declared the candidature of Ravindra Dhangekar for Kasba, Sangram Thopte for Bhor and Sanjay Jagtap for Purandar in Pune district.

The Congress is the last political party to declare its candidates. In its first list of 45 candidates, it has retained the sitting legislators from Pune district as candidates in the assembly election.

In 2019, the Congress had won only two seats from Pune district while it won the third seat last year whe Kasba went for a bypoll.

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Dhangekar had defeated BJP candidate Hemant Rasane in the bypoll after the death of sitting BJP legislator Mukta Tilak. Kasba was a bastion of BJP and Dhangakr’s win was a major upset. . The Congress had fielded Dhangekar again in the LoK Sabha election from Pune seat but he was defeated by Murlidhar Mohol of BJP.

Other Congress candidates from Western Maharashtra include former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from Karad South in Satara, Ruturaj Patil in Kolhapur South, Rahul Patil in Karvir, Raju Awale in Hatkanangale, Vishwajeet Kadam for Palus Kadegaon, Vikramsinh Sawant from Karvir and Siddharam Mhetre from Akkalkot.

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