Maha Vikas Aghadi’s press conference on Tuesday. (News18/Ramesh Bhatt)
Maharashtra Lok Sabha Elections: The Lok Sabha polls will be held in the state in five phases from April 19 to May 20.
Sanjay Raut of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction on Tuesday announced that their party will contest on 21 Lok Sabha seats, Congress on 17 and Sharad Pawar’s party will fight in 10 Maharashtra constituencies.
Giving details, Raut said that they contest in Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Raigad, Maval, Dharashiv, Ratnagiri, Buldhana, Hatkanangle, Shirdi, Sambhajinagar, Sangli, Hingoli, Yavatmal, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai South and Mumbai North-East seats.
Constituencies where Sharad Pawar will field his candidates are Baramati, Shirur, Satara, Bhiwandi, Dindori, Madha, Raver, Wardha, Ahmednagar South and Beed 10 constituencies.
Congress, on the other hand, has agreed to fight elections in Nandurbar, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North-Central, Pune , Latur, Solapur, Kolhapur and north Mumbai.
The poll pact for the 48 parliamentary seats in the state was announced at a press conference in Mumbai by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress president Nana Patole.
This comes after weeks of negotiations. Sharad Pawar had been holding meetings to resolve the issue, particularly over Sangli and Hatkanangle.
Sangli is considered a traditional Congress seat, which Uddhav’s Sena had been eyeing. A Congress leader, while speaking to ThePrint, had underscored the party’s stronghold on Sangli since Independence and questioned Shiv Sena’s (UBT) insistence on the seat despite lacking local support.
“The Sena (UBT) can bargain on any other seat but not Sangli, which has remained a Congress bastion for years since Independence. Sena (UBT) won’t even win the seat without our backing, so why do they want this seat? Our unit in Sangli has a strong objection to ceding this seat to Shiv Sena (UBT),” the leader was quoted.
The Lok Sabha polls will be held in the state in five phases from April 19 to May 20.
(details to follow)
