The ruling Mahayuti alliance seems to have finalised its Maharashtra seat-sharing deal for the upcoming elections.
The deliberations took place in Delhi recently where Home Minister Amit Shah, chief minister Eknath Shinde, and deputy chief ministers Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis were present. Sources familiar with the outcome of the meeting told News18 that if the talks hold true till the date of announcement, the BJP may fight on 156 seats in Maharashtra this time.
It is likely that the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena will fight on 78 seats, said sources, adding that Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) may fight on 54 seats.
The decision is believed to have been taken at a meeting at Shah’s residence that lasted for nearly three hours.
“A lot of work is now being done about seat swapping. To the best of my knowledge, the number of seats will more or less remain the same but exchange of seats will take place based on candidates’ winnability,” said a source.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced its first list of 99 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Deputy chief minister Fadnavis will contest from his stronghold Nagpur South West, while Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule will contest from Kamthi. The party also fielded 13 female candidates, fielding Shrijaya Chavan, daughter of Congress veteran Ashok Chavan (who joined BJP in February) from Bhokar.
In the Mumbai City district, Ram Kadam will contest from Ghatkopar West, Ashish Shelar will contest from Vandre West, Rahul Narwekar will contest from Colaba and Mangal Prabhat Lodha will contest from Malabar Hill.
The BJP’s first list for the Maharashtra elections also introduced several new faces. Among the new candidates are Pratibha Pachpute for Shrigonda, Vinod Shelar for Malad West and Rajesh Bakane, who ran as an independent last time, for Deoli. Shankar Jagtap fielded from Chinchwad and Vinod Agrawal, also an independent in the previous election, who is contesting from Gondia are also fresh faces.
Other BJP leaders who are contesting for the first time include Anuradha Chavan who will contest from Phulambri, Sulbha Gaikwad, wife of MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, contesting from Kalyan East, Rahul Awade from Ichalkaranji, and Amol Jawale from Raver.
The allies, however, are yet to announce the candidate list.
Voting will be held on all 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra on November 20 and results will be declared on November 23.
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