2019 lok sabha elections: Campaigning for phase 3 ends

Mumbai: The high-voltage campaign for the state’s 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, which will go to polls in the third phase on April 23, ended at 5 pm on Sunday.

The fate of 249 candidates will be decided in the third phase of polling on Tuesday.

Senior leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress sought the support of voters for their respective party candidates during their campaigns.

The BJP’s star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for the BJP in Ahmednagar and Madha while chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also addressed public meetings in various seats in support of the saffron alliance's nominees.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also campaigned in various constituencies, including Hathkanangle and Aurangabad.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar campaigned for his party candidates in Satara, Sangli, Madha and Kolhapur.

Former chief minister and Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan also canvassed for his party candidates in some constituencies.  

The Congress and NCP inked in a seat-sharing pact in the state for the Lok Sabha polls. As part of it, the Congress is contesting Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Pune and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seats while the NCP candidates are in the fray in Jalgaon, Raigad, Madha, Ahmednagar, Satara and Kolhapur.

The prominent seats in the third phase include Jalna and Baramati.

State BJP president Raosaheb Danve is in the fray against Vilas Autade of the Congress in Jalna, while Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, is contesting in Baramati against BJP’s Kanchan Kul.

Another eagerly watched seat is Ahmednagar where senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s son Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil is contesting on a BJP’s ticket.

Dr Sujay joined the BJP in the run-up to the polls as the NCP refused to vacate the seat for the Congress. He is contesting against Nationalist Congress Party’s Sangram Jagtap.

In addition to this, Swabhimani Paksha’s Raju Shetti, who is an ally of the Congress-NCP, is seeking a re-election from Hathkanangale seat.

The 14 seats going to polls in this phase are Jalgaon, Raver (both in north Maharashtra), Jalna, Aurangabad (Marathwada), Raigad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (Konkan), Pune, Baramati, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Hathkanangale (western Maharashtra) and Ahmednagar (south Maharashtra).

Lok Sabha elections to 48 seats in the state are being held in four phases. Polling for the first two phases was held on April 11 and 18 in seven and 10 seats, respectively.

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