Maha Opposition seat sharing deal finalised; Cong from 18 seats, UBT 20, NCP 10

Mumbai: Members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra agreed on a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress, NCP – Sharadchandra Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) met here on Wednesday and took final decisions.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80). Congress leaders Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Varsha Gaikwad, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leaders Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh, and Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut and Vinayak Raut participated in the meeting. A formal announcement regarding the seat sharing will be made soon.

According to national media, the Shiv Sena faction led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will contest in 20 seats, while the Congress is expected to field candidates from 18 seats. The remaining 10 seats were reportedly given to the Nationalist Congress Party.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) - a regional party that earlier demanded five seats - will receive two from the Sena (UBT)'s share, and an independent, Raju Shetty, will be backed by Mr Pawar's outfit, reported NDTV on Friday.

“Comprehensive discussion took place on each of the 48 Lok Sabha seats,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut to PTI. "Winning is important, not who contests how many seats. Protection of democracy and the Constitution is our agenda, and Prakash Ambedkar holds the same view," Raut added.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won 23 Lok Sabha seats in the state, its alliance partner Shiv Sena (which was then undivided) had won 18 seats, undivided NCP had won four while Congress and AIMIM had won a seat each. An independent candidate had won one seat.