Maharashtra Assembly polls: Key contests to grab eyeballs on October 21

After a vicious campaign trail lasting over 30 days the stage is finally set for the Maharashtra Assembly elections amidst tight security in Mumbai on Monday The ruling Bharatiya Janata PartyShiv Sena alliance is making a determined bid to recapture power for a second consecutive term and the opposition CongressNationalist Congress Party combine is leaving no stone unturned to return to power after remaining in the political wilderness for five yearsWith a staggering 3237 candidates in the fray from among a host of different parties the contests for the 288 seats promises to be an allout political war especially among a few key seatsThe prime among them is Chief Minister Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis the 49year old who hopes to create history by becoming the first nonCongress head of a government to return to power for the second time in a rowHe is contesting from the prestigious Nagpur SouthWest seat pitted against his main rival the Congress Ashish Deshmukh and another 18 contenders including seven independentsBJP leaders confidently say it will be cakewalk for Fadnavis both in his constituency and in bagging the state again for the BJPAnother bigshot is Congress former union minister and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Daijisaheb Chavan standing from Karad South challenged by the BJP Atulbaba Suresh Bhosale and 11 others including seven independentsThere is Congress former Chief Minister Ashok Shankarrao Chavan in Bhokar contending with the BJPs Shrinivas alias Bapusaheb Deshmukh Gorthekar and five others including two independentsThe Nationalist Congress Partys strongman and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Anantrao Pawar is fighting a battle for survival from his family bastion of Baramati pitted against the BJPs Gopichand Kundlik Padalkar and eight others including five independentsAnother former Deputy CM is NCPs Chhagan Chandrakant Bhujbal seeking reelection from his stronghold Yevla with a strong rival Shiv Senas Sambhaji Sahebrao Pawar plus six others including three independentsOther major contenders are Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Namdeorao Wadettiwar from the Congress and Leader of Opposition in the Council Dhananjay Munde of the NCPWadettiwar is contesting Brahmapuri seat pitted against his main rival Sandeep Wamanrao Gaddamwar of Shiv Sena renowned activist Paromita Prangopal Goswami of Aam Aadmi Party and eight others including four independentsMunde is challenging his cousin and BJP Minister Pankaja Gopinath Munde for the Parli seat with 14 others including 10 independentsTwo top party chiefs are also in the fray First is BJPs Maharashtra President Chandrakant Bachhu Patil from Kothrud challenged by the Maharashtra Navnirman Senas lawyer Kishor Nana Shinde and nine others including five independentsThe Maharashtra Congress President Vijay alias Balasaheb Bhausaheb Thorat is in the fray from Sangamner against his main rival Shiv Senas Sahebrao Ramchandra Navale and six others including three IndependentsThe countrys commercial capital Mumbai also has two prominent party presidents contesting BJPs Mangalprabhat Lodha from Malabar Hill against Congress Hira Navaji Devasi and eight others 3 Independents and NCPs Nawab Malik from Anushakti Nagar challenged by Senas Tukaram Ramkrushna Kate and 13 others 7 IndependentsAnother key contestant is Mumbai Mayor Senas Vishwanath Pandurang Mahadeshwar pitted against a rebel sitting party MLA Trupti Prakash Sawant expelled recently by Uddhav Thackeray and Zeeshan Baba Siddique of Congress besides others 3 IndependentsThe grandnephew of NCP President Sharad Pawar Rohit Pawar is making his electoral debut from KarjatJamkhed seat pitted against BJPs Ram Shankar Shinde and 10 others 6 IndependentsIn Nala Sopara former encounter specialist cop Pradeep Rameshwar Sharma is the Sena nominee challenging the sitting legislator Bahujan Vikas Aghadis Kshitij Hitendra Thakur and 12 more 7 IndependentsBesides there are ministers of the BJPSena combine scions of political families members of the erstwhile royal families film personalities activists et al making the pollscape thrillingThe Election Commission of India ECI and state election authorities have made elaborate preparations for the peaceful conduct of the elections on MondayOf the total 3237 candidates in the fray there are only 236 women and the remaining 3001 are males In many constituencies besides the two main alliances there are other contenders like Prakash Ambedkars Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi the MNS Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen all with a potential to tilt the scales either wayIn terms of geographical area the biggest constituency is Aheri and tiniest is Dharavi in Mumbai but in terms of electorate the largest is Panvel with a voter strength of 554827 and smallest is Wardha with 277980 voters while Chiplun has only three contestants Nanded South has the maximum crowd of 38 candidatesAmong the candidates the BJP has put up 164 candidates Sena 126 Congress 147 NCP 121 MNS 101 BSP 262 VBA 288 CPI 16 CPIM 8 Other Registered Parties 604 and the remaining 1400 IndependentsOf the states total electorate of 897 crore 468 crore are men and 428 crore are women plus 2634 transgender voters The ECI has set up 966661 polling stations and the total number of VVPAT EVMs for voting will be 135021 in the state The elections results are expected to start coming out by October 24 noonCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates