Lok Sabha elections 2024: 258 in fray for 11 Maharashtra LS seats going to polls in third phase; all eyes on Baramati

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As many as 258 candidates are left in the fray in the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra going to polls in the third phase on May 7 and all eyes will be on Baramati, where two members of the powerful Sharad Pawar family are facing each other, reported news agency PTI.

Monday (April 22) was the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024.

According to PTI report, Baramati in Pune district has the highest number of candidates at 38 followed by Madha (32), Osmanabad (31), Latur (28), Hatkanangale (27), Kolhapur (23), Solapur (21), Sangli (20), Satara (16), Raigad (13) and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (9), election officials said.

In Baramati, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) candidate Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, is pitted against her sister-in-law and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra, the nominee of the ruling NCP.

For the Lok Sabha elections 2024, two royal scions are also in the fray from different seats -- Shahu Chhatrapati in Kolhapur as the Congress candidate and Udayanraje Bhosale in Satara as the BJP nominee. Union minister Narayan Rane is contesting on a BJP ticket from Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri.

Congress rebel Vishal Patil stuck to his decision to contest the Sangli Lok Sabha poll as an independent candidate after the seat was allotted to the party's ally Shiv Sena (UBT).

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the symbol of a trumpet-like instrument allotted to an independent candidate contesting from its stronghold, Baramati, in Maharashtra's Pune district, reported PTI.

The NCP (SP) has claimed the ECI has allotted a trumpet-like symbol to independent candidate Shaikh Soyalshah Yunusshah and has identified it as "tutari".

The ECI has allotted "a man blowing turha" (a traditional trumpet) as the poll symbol for the NCP (SP), reported PTI.

The complaint filed by Laxmikant Khabiya, the poll representative of the party's candidate, Supriya Sule, stated that there is a similarity in both names, which can cause confusion among voters.

Khabiya submitted the complaint to the returning officer on April 20.

"The symbol given to the independent candidate is a trumpet. In Marathi, it cannot be called 'tutari'. We have requested the ECI to call the symbol 'trumpet' instead of 'tutari'," he stated in the complaint, reported PTI.

The "turha" in the NCP (SP) symbol is also called "tutari" in Marathi. It is sounded to mark the entry of important persons, ranging from kings earlier to political leaders now.

Baramati, which will go to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on May 7, is the home turf of the Pawar family, and Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, is seeking a straight fourth term from the constituency.

(With inputs from PTI)