MVA seals seat-sharing deal

Mumbai/New Delhi: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar's NCP, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena in Maharashtra has sealed the seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Assembly elections. The three parties have agreed to contest 85 seats each, the bloc announced on Wednesday.

"We have decided that the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest 85 seats each," Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and Uddhav Sena's Sanjay Raut told reporters.

The Maharashtra Assembly has a total of 288 seats. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said the rest of the 18 seats will be left for smaller parties. “We will include the Samajwadi Party, PWP, CPM, CPI, and AAP in the alliance," Raut said.

The announcement on MVA's seat-sharing deal came amid rumours about a rift withing the alliance. NCP-SCP leader Jitendra Awhad dismissed the rumours, saying, "Seat sharing has been finalised on almost all seats and the list will be released soon...There are no differences between Sanjay Raut and Nana Patole. Sharad Pawar takes everyone along with him..."

Earlier on Wednesday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) released its first list of 65 candidates for the elections, with former minister Aaditya Thackeray being fielded from his current Worli constituency in central Mumbai.

In Thane's Kopri-Panchpakhadi seat, where Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is in the fray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) fielded Kedar Dighe. Kedar Dighe is the nephew of late Sena leader Anand Dighe, considered to be Shinde's political mentor.

Yuva Sena leader and Thackeray's cousin Varun Sardesai would contest from Bandra (East) seat in the city. The party also renominated most of its MLAs who stayed with Uddhav Thackeray after the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022. Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly are scheduled on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.