In Maharashtra, Congress likely to field 15 candidates

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, March 18

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is learnt to have finalised the seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. According to sources, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) is expected to contest from 23 seats, Congress from 15, NCP (Sharad Pawar) from six and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is likely to contest from four seats.

BJP to contest 30 constituencies

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• The BJP-led Mahayuti is also learnt to have finalised its seat-sharing pact. The BJP is likely to contest from 30 seats.
• Eknath Shinde’s group may get 13 seats and the NCP (Ajit Pawar) is likely to get five seats.

According to sources aware of the developments, a meeting of the Congress’ screening committee for Maharashtra will be held on Tuesday. After this, the central election committee of the party is to be convened. A formal announcement on seat sharing in Maharashtra is likely to happen this week. There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. While the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) is said to have got almost all the seats on which it had contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress, which had managed to win only from Chandrapur at that time, will again be contesting from there apart from 14 more seats, sources said.

The MVA is hoping to consolidate the Dalit vote with the inclusion of VBA in its fold, which sources said, will help in cutting into BJP-led NDA’s vote bank in the state.

Meanwhile, the BJP-led Mahayuti is also learnt to have finalised its seat-sharing arrangement in Maharashtra. The BJP is likely to contest 30 seats, with Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) to fight from 13 seats and NCP (Ajit Pawar) to contest from five seats.

A united Shiv Sena had won 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the NDA. Later, the party split into two factions after Eknath Shinde had broken ranks in June 2022.

MVA Eyeing Dalit vote bank

The Maha Vikas Aghadi is hoping to consolidate the Dalit vote with the inclusion of Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi in its fold which sources say will help in cutting into BJP-led NDA’s vote bank in the state.