Mumbai. The deadlock is over now in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra over seat sharing. Top MVA leaders held a meeting in Mumbai till late Tuesday night and indicated that the seat sharing for the assembly elections has been finalized. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that a press conference will be held on Wednesday to announce the seat sharing. A media report quoted a senior Congress leader Hale as saying that Congress-105, Shiv Sena (UBT)-95 and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) will contest 84 seats for the 288-member assembly. The remaining seats will be given to smaller parties in the alliance. After a rift between Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (Uttar Pradesh) MP Sanjay Raut over seat sharing, senior state Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday first met NCP president Sharad Pawar and then Shiv Sena (Uttar Pradesh) chief Uddhav Thackeray. Later, Thorat and other MVA leaders again held a meeting, which lasted over five hours at a luxury hotel. Thorat said AICC Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala had asked him to meet Pawar and Thackeray.
The report quoted the senior Congress leader as saying that Uddhav’s Shiv Sena will contest 18 seats in Mumbai Urban, while the Congress will contest 14 and the NCP (Uttar Pradesh) will contest 2 seats. However, the dispute over three Mumbai seats – Versova, Bandra East and Byculla – is yet to be resolved as both the Uddhav faction and the Congress have staked claim to them. However, it is expected that a final decision will be taken on this today. In this, Congress or Shiv Sena may have to sacrifice.
On the other hand, seat sharing among the ruling Mahayuti is also in the final stage. It is believed that BJP can contest on 150 to 155 seats, Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde can contest on 78-80 and NCP led by Ajit Pawar can contest on 52-54 seats. There are a total of 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly. Elections are to be held in the entire state in a single phase on November 20. Counting of votes will take place on November 23.
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