Thursday's poll fight in Maharashtra has many bigwigs

Many stalwarts will try their luck as the stage is set for the crucial second phase of Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra Thursday.

As many as 358 candidates are contesting for 19 Lok Sabha seats. The bigwigs include union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, former chief minister Ashok Chavan and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde.

Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Pawar-Sule, Congress strongman and state Industry Minister Narayan Rane's son Nilesh, state Environment Minister Patangrao Kadam's son Vishwajeet Kadam and the 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Udyanraje Bhosale, are the other notable contenders.

Beed constituency in Marathwada region has the maximum 39 candidates while Baramati has the fewest - just nine.

Of the 358 candidates, only 24 are women and 201 independents, including lawyer Varsha Madgulkar, the state's only independent nominee in Satara.

About 3.25 crore voters will vote.

In terms of electorate, the largest constituency is Maval (1,946,127) and the smallest is Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (1,363,956).

The 19 constituencies going to polls are: Ahmednagar, Baramati, Beed, Hathkanangle, Hingoli, Kolhapur, Latur (SC), Madha, Maval, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Shirur, Shirdi (SC), Solapur (SC), Sangli and Satara.

The first phase was held in Vidarbha region's 10 constituencies April 10. The third and last phase is scheduled for the 19 remaining (of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state) constituencies April 24.