New Delhi, Sep 11 - The Congress Friday appointed Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as chairman of the election management committee for Maharashtra polls.

'Congress president Sonia Gandhi has nominated Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chairman of the election management committee for the ensuing assembly election in Maharashtra,' Janardan Dwivedi, chairman of party's media department, said in a release here.

Deshmukh, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, also headed the election management committee in April-May Lok Sabha polls, in which the Congress won 17 of the 25 seats it contested in the state. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, and shares the poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party.

Discussions are going on between the two parties for the seat sharing arrangement for the 288 assembly seats, but Deshmukh has been advocating that the Congress should go it alone in the polls.

Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was appointed as chairman of the Congress campaign committee for Maharashtra polls a few days ago.