Fate of Pawar,Shinde,Antulay to be decided on Thursday

There are 377 candidates,including 20 women,in the fray. As many as 636 candidates had filed their nominations in the 25 constituencies. The nomination papers of 103 candidates was rejected while 156 withdrew from the race before the last date of withdrawal on April 8.

Apart from the heavyweights,the election will also decide the fate of heirs of some well-known politicians.

Supriya Sule,daughter of Sharad Pawar (Baramati),Nilesh Rane,son of State Industries Minister Narayan Rane (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg),Sameer Bhujbal,nephew of Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (Nashik) and Prateek Patil,grandson of former Chief Minister late Vasantdada Patil (Sangli) are some of the high-profile candidates.

Sule is a sitting Rajya Sabha member,while Prateek won the by-election after death of his father Prakashbapu Patil. The rest are newcomers testing political waters in this election for the first time.

Congress is facing rebellion in Nandurbar,Sangli,Pune and Raigad. In Nandurbar,NCP leader and state Cabinet Minister Vijaykumar Gavit’s brother is contesting against Congress veteran and former Union Minister Manikrao Gavit.

BJP is backing Congress rebel and sitting Congress MLA Ajit Ghorpade against Prateek Patil,while Congress MLA Madhu Thakur’s son Praveen is contesting against Antulay in Raigad.

Antulay’s comments in course of poll campaign that he stood by his controversial statement over the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare during 26/11 attacks,was embarrassing for the Congress because they were made in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan who had come to Raigad to canvass for the octogenarian leader.

In Western Maharashtra,NCP has six sitting MPs and ally Congress three. In North Maharashtra,Congress has two,NCP one and BJP two.

Of the five of the eight seats in Marathwada going to polls on Thursday,BJP and Shiv Sena hold two each,while one is with the NCP. In Konkan,Sena and Congress have an MP each.

Raver and Dindori (North Maharashtra) Shirur,Madha and Shirdi (Western Maharashtra) are newly-carved constituencies post-delimitation.

Munde,a BJP General Secretary who is contesting from Beed in Marathwada region,is seeking to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi,General Secretary Rahul Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi and NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani were the star campaigners for their respective parties.

The election speeches of Sonia and Rahul centered around hitting out at the BJP over terrorism and communalism.

BJP leaders,including Advani and Modi,who held rallies across the state,attacked the Prime Minister.