Mumbai

The Congress announced its candidates for three constituencies for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council election. Biennal polls for the five vacant seats -- three Graduate (Aurangabad, Pune, and Nagpur) and two Teacher (Amravati and Pune) -- are scheduled for October 23.

The party, in a release on Friday, named candidates for one Graduate and two Teacher seats. The party renominated MLC Abhijit Wanjari for the Nagpur Division Graduates’ seat, and member Jayant Dinkar Asagaonkar for the Pune Division Teachers’ seat. Newcomer Aditi Pohare has been fieldd from the Amravati seat.

The date for filing nominations is October 6, and the date for withdrawal is October 9.

Earlier this week, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) announced a plan to contest the polls in a meeting attended by Congress leader Naseem Khan, NCP (SP) leaders Shashikant Shinde and Harshwardhan Patil, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut. Khan said talks were held for the constituency for Graduates of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the constituency for Graduates of Pune, and the constituency for Teachers of Amravati.

NCP’s Satish Chavan from the constituency for Graduates of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Arun Lad of the NCP (SP) from the constituency for Graduates of Pune and Kiran Sarnaik of the Shiv Sena from the constituency for Teachers of Amravati are retiring on December 6.