MVA seals poll pact in Maharashtra; Shiv Sena (UBT) gets 21 seats, Congress 17

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024 the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA on Tuesday announced its seatsharing deal under which the Shiv Sena UBT will contest 21 Lok Sabha seats the Congress 17 and the NCP SP 10 seats in MaharashtraThe Congress gave up its claim on the contentious Sangli and Bhiwandi seats which will now be contested by the Sena UBT and the NCP SP respectivelyWhile the Sena UBT said the goal of the alliance was to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP the Congress said it has decided to be largehearted to achieve this objectiveNCP SP chief Sharad Pawar Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress president Nana Patole announced the poll pact for the 48 parliamentary seats in the state after weeks of hectic negotiationsAddressing a press conference at Shivalaya the Shiv Sena UBT office in south Mumbai party head and former state chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said the seatsharing deal has been reached and in an alliance winning is important and defeating the BJP is the goalWhen victory against the BJP is the larger goal we have to set aside certain differences he said when asked about the Shiv Sena UBT refusing to give Sangli seat to the CongressThackeray said there was a strange coincidence of surya grahan solar eclipse amavasya new moon and the BJP rally on the same day MondayPrime Minister Narendra Modis speech yesterday was not that of a prime minister When we respond please dont take it as an insult of the prime minister Our criticism will be about a leader of a corrupt party Thackeray said to a query on Modi referring to his party as fake Shiv SenaIt is not right for a leader of the party of extortionists to call us fake he saidThe BJP is a party of extortionists and this was seen after the electoral bonds scam was exposed Thackeray claimedMaharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said his party has decided to be largehearted to achieve the final goal of defeating PM Modi and the BJPThe Congress workers will fight the BJP and ensure victory of the MVA candidates in Sangli and Bhiwandi he saidOur workers will never forget how the BJP illtreated our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi he saidPatole said the parties of Thackeray and Sharad Pawar were hijacked by rebels Leaders of both the original parties are with us and Modi calls the Uddhav Thackerayled party as fake Shiv Sena he saidAs part of the deal the Shiv Sena UBT has got Jalgaon Parbhani Nashik Palghar Kalyan Thane Raigad Maval Osmanabad RatnagiriSindhudurg Buldhana Hathkanangkale Aurangabad Shirdi Sangli Hingoli YavatmalWashim Mumbai South Mumbai South Central Mumbai North West and Mumbai North East seatsThe Congress has got Nandurbar Dhule Akola Amravati Nagpur BhandaraGondia GadchiroliChimur Chandrapur Nanded Jalna Mumbai North Central Mumbai North Pune Latur Solapur Kolhapur and Ramtek seatsThe NCPSP will contest Baramati Shirur Satara Bhiwandi Dindori Madha Raver Wardhan Ahmednagar South and Beed seatsNCP SP chief Sharad Pawar Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress president Nana Patole announced the poll pact for the 48 parliamentary seats in the state at a press conference here after weeks of negotiationsLok Sabha elections 2024 in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19 April 26 May 7 May 13 and May 20 The counting of votes will be held on June 4The state with its 48 Lok Sabha seats is the secondlargest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh Known for its political diversity and significant electoral influence Maharashtra plays a crucial role in shaping national politicsIn the 2019 elections the BJP emerged as the largest party with 23 seats followed by the Shiv Sena undivided with 18 seatsMeanwhile a total of 204 candidates are in the fray for eight Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra that will go to polls in the second phase on April 26 an official said on Monday reported PTIMonday was the last date for withdrawal of nominations he addedThere were 299 valid nominations Of these 204 remain in the fray in Buldhana Akola Amravati Wardha YavatmalWashim Hingoli Nanded and Parbhani he said reported PTIIn Parbhani seven candidates withdrew their nomination forms leaving 34 contestants in the fray an official said reported PTIRuling alliance candidate Mahadev Jankar who is also president of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha has been allotted the symbol whistle he added Jankar will take on MP Sanjay Jadhav of the Shiv Sena UBT and Panjabrao Dakh Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi reported PTIIn Hingoli a total of 33 candidates will fight the polls after 15 Independents withdrew their nominationsThe main contest will be between Baburao Kadam of the Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of the Shiv Sena UBTWith inputs from PTI