With the high-octane Lok Sabha polls around the corner, Maharashtra's Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), have reportedly reached a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls at a meeting on Friday.
As per media reports, the key meeting was attended by Congress leaders Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Varsha Gaikwad, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leaders Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh, and Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut, Vinayak Raut and a representative from the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA). The meeting was held at Sharad Pawar's home.
However, the official announcement on the final seat-sharing numbers for the MVA will be made by the senior leaders of the alliance. Maharashtra has a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats.
Seat sharing in Maha: Speculations on before final announcement
As per some media reports, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena is likely to contest 21 seats, while the Congress may fight in 15 seats. The Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP could get nine seats, sources said.
Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA, the party that recently joined the MVA, is expected to contest two seats while Raju Shetti's Swabhimani Paksha may get one seat, as per some reports.
However, besides the above-mentioned numbers, an alternate calculation has surfaced as well that said the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest seats while the Congress will contest 18. The Sharad Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party will field candidates for the other 10.
These reports suggested that the VBA, which earlier demanded five seats, would receive two from the Sena (UBT)'s share while Raju Shetty's party would be backed by Sharad Pawar's faction.
Notably, each party will be allotted a seat, which has a sitting parliamentarian. Even if a candidate from one party switches to another party, the party, which originally got the contesting seat, will get the ticket.
The Election Commission is yet to announce the dates of the Lok Sabha polls. The election is likely to be held in April-May.
