Mumbai, Nov 4 (IANS): As the campaigning for the Assembly elections gather momentum from today, the traditional rivals BJP and Congress, which are locked in a direct fight in 74 of 288 constituencies, are expected to tighten the booth level management.

Of these 74 seats, both national parties will have a face-off in 35 seats from the Vidarbha region. Incidentally, the Vidarbha region with 62 seats used to be the Congress party’s traditional bastion till 2014 as after, that BJP outpaced the grand old party and made inroads there.

BJP and Congress will have a direct contest in 11 seats from the cooperative-rich Western Maharashtra, 11 of the total 46 seats from Marathwada, 7 each in Mumbai and North Maharashtra and 4 in the Konkan region. BJP, since 2014, has not only spread its wings but also gained a hold over multiple cooperative bodies in western Maharashtra where NCP-SP and Congress still dominate.

In Mumbai too, BJP has made a dent in the Congress pockets and also in Marathwada and northern Maharashtra. The Konkan region has witnessed the united Shiv Sena’s increasing dominance post-1990 as the Congress now is struggling to stay relevant. At the same time, BJP, with the help of United Shiv Sena, succeeded in increasing its strength in the Konkan region.

BJP’s bigwigs who will be taking on Congress candidates include Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, BJP ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit, former ministers Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar, Sanjay Kute and Madan Yerawar, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, Mumbai party chief Ashish Shelar and legislator Ashok Uike.

On the other hand, Congress leaders, who are pitted against BJP nominees, comprise state party chief Nana Patole, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, former ministers Nitin Raut, Yashomati Thakur, Aslam Shaikh, Vasant Purke, Amit Deshmukh, Vishwamitra Kadam and legislator Dheeraj Deshmukh.

During the 2019 Assembly elections, Kishor Jorgewar was elected from Chandrapur in the Vidarbha region as an Independent by 72,000 votes, defeating BJP and Congress nominees. However, in the present elections, Jorgewar has entered into the electoral fray as a BJP candidate from Chandrapur against Congress which came fourth in the last Assembly elections.

In Gondia seat, BJP and Congress fought against each other in the 2019 Assembly elections when Independent Vinod Agrawal emerged victorious. However, in the present election, Agrawal is contesting on the BJP ticket against Congress nominee Gopal Agrawal who had fought as the BJP nominee in the 2019 Assembly polls.

Of these 74 Assembly seats, BJP had won a record 42 seats while 24 were bagged by Congress in the 2019 Assembly elections, two each by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and Prahar Janshakti Paksha, one by NCP and three Independents. Of the three Independents, Geeta Jain had defeated the BJP nominee Narendra Mehata from Mira Bhayandar constituency in the last Assembly elections. However, during the present elections, Mehata is now the BJP nominee fighting against Congress candidate Muzaffar Husain, who came third in the last elections.