Maharashtra pact: BJP to contest 25 seats, Sena 23 in Lok Sabha polls

The announcement brings the curtain down on months of bluster by the Sena that it could walk out of the pact

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on Monday announced their pre-poll alliance for the Maharashtra Lok Sabha (LS) and Assembly polls.

According to the seat-sharing deal, the BJP will contest 25 and the Sena 23 of Maharashtra’s 48 LS seats. In the Assembly polls, scheduled for October, the two parties agreed to contest an equal number of the state’s 288 seats, and accommodate potential allies equally within their respective shares of 144 seats each.

The announcement at a press conference in Mumbai by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, with BJP President Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray