Mahayuti leaders hold meeting with Amit Shah for Maharashtra seat-sharing

In preparation for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, a crucial meeting was held in Delhi on Thursday between Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Praful Patel, and Sunil Tatkare, among others, attended the meeting.

All three parties had already released their initial lists of candidates, but 106 seats remained unannounced. Among these, 20 to 25 seats were contentious, with claims from all three parties. This meeting aimed to address these disputes.

According to sources, to resolve the seat allocation issues, the constituent parties of the Mahayuti will swap some seats. The BJP is expected to leave certain seats for the NCP, while Eknath Shinde will also concede some seats that the Shiv Sena contested in 2019.

Most seats were agreed upon in the meeting with Amit Shah, though a few remain undecided. It was concluded that decisions regarding these remaining seats will depend on which party will likely win, with leaders from all three parties meeting in Mumbai to finalise the arrangements.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Shinde Sena faction leader Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Uddhav Thackeray, taking a dig at them, saying that Uddhav's Shiv Sena was struggling to secure seats in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

As the polling date draws near, both the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP alongside the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have intensified their preparations.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled for November 20, with counting for all 288 constituencies set for November 23.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP secured 122 seats, the Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42.