Amid ongoing seat-sharing talks between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT)-appointed Election Coordinators said the party wants to contest in 18 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. This also includes four out of six constituencies in Mumbai for the upcoming general elections.
The appointment of Election Coordinators by Shiv Sena (UBT) is seen as an assertion of their demand to contest in 18 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
The four parliamentary seats in Mumbai are — Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West and Mumbai North East. The Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena is proposing to leave only two seats for their allies to contest in the Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May.
The last meeting of MVA over seat-sharing distribution was held on February 2, after which former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan left the Congress to join the BJP.
No discussion was held between MVA leaders since then after Chavan’s exit from Congress.
In the previous meeting, Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) also took part in the meet, his first after his party’s induction in the MVA.
Ambedkar insisted on having a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) before deciding on the seat-sharing within the MVA allies.
The next meeting is likely to be on February 22.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, undivided Shiv Sena was part of an alliance with the BJP and fought in 22 out of 48 seats. The Shiv Sena won 18 seats, including three in Mumbai.
But with prominent Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Milind Deora leaving the party, the Shiv Sena (UBT) wants to contest in those seats which they won in 2019 as a backup plan.