The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) seat allocation plan for the Maharashtra Assembly elections is almost finalized. The MVA resolved the issue of allocation of 260 seats out of the 288 seats in Parliament. There is no consensus on 28 seats, including three in Mumbai. MVA leaders met in Mumbai on Thursday to discuss the seat-sharing issue.
Apart from Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT), MVA has many other political parties. MVA won 30 out of 48 seats in the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won 13 seats and became the largest party. It is understood that the Congress wants to contest the maximum seat. The first list of congressional candidates is expected to be released on Sunday.
The high command will make the final decision
MVA sources said that the 28 seats on which there is no consensus are from Mumbai and Vidarbha regions. The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) occupy most of the seats in Vidarbha district. The three contested seats in Mumbai include Versova, Byculla and Dharavi.
After the meeting, Maharashtra Congress Party chief Nana Patole said that the list of 25 seats in Vidarbha for which consensus has not yet been reached will be sent to the high command of all parties in the MVA. Congress presidents Mallikarjun Kharge, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar will take a decision in this regard.
The first list of Congress on October 20
Opposition leader Vijay Wadettiwar said the first list of Congress candidates will be announced on October 20. So far, 84 seats have been screened. He revealed that the Central Election Commission will hold a meeting on October 20, and the first batch of lists will be announced on the same day.
SP demands 12 seats
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has also demanded 12 seats for the MVA. Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief Abu Asim Azmi said he wants to contest from 12 seats, including four in Mumbai: Byculla, Mankhurd, Shivaji Nagar and Versova. He said that we fought together in the Lok Sabha elections and due to this the BJP was restricted to 240 seats. We have to stay united to defeat the BJP.
Abu Azmi said he would meet Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the matter. Akhilesh Yadav will go on an election tour to Malegaon and Dhule on Friday.
Maharashtra to hold elections on November 20
Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seats will go to polls on November 20. Results will be announced on November 23.
In the last election, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56 seats, the NCP 54 seats and the Congress 44 seats. However, after the elections, the Shiv Sena broke away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed the government in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray becomes chief minister.
In June 2022, there was internal discord within the Shiv Sena. Following this, Eknath Shinde sacked 40 MLAs of the party. Eknath Shinde became the chief minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Now the Shiv Sena is divided into two groups. Sharad Pawar’s National Communist Party (NCP) is also divided into two factions – Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar.
