The ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra will announce its first list of 235 candidates on Saturday, October 12, the day India will mark the festival of Dussehra, NCP working president Praful patel said on tuesday.
Incidentally, the Maha Vikas Aghadi of Opposition parties in the state will also release its initial list of candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, scheduled to conclude latest by November 26.
As per the provisional formula worked out by the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP for seat-sharing, the BJP is likely to field 150 candidates in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly while the Shiv Sena is likely to get 75-80 seats. The NCP, on the other hand, is likely to get 60-65 seats to contest, sources said.
The numbers are in line with the intiial seat-sharing formula worked out between the Mahayuti constituents during Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Mumbai last month. Shah met leaders of the BJP as well as those of the alliance and assured them of a respectable number of seats to contest.
"We had asked for a respectable formula. Accordingly, we will get 60-65 seats. We are happy with this understanding," Patel said, adding that an understanding had been reached on 235 of the 288 seats.
The former Union minister further said that NCP supremo Ajit Pawar will contest from his traditional seat of Baramati. The clarification came amid speculation that he may switch to a safer seat after his wife Sunetra Pawar's defeat to NCP(SP)'s Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha elections.
the announcement of candidates will come on the back of a shot in the arm for the BJP following its victory in the Haryana elections and beating the Congress in direct contests in Jammu. The verdict has also punctured the Opposition's narrative that the BJP's trajectory was on a downward curve and will boost the morale of the NDA rank and fuile as they head into one of the biggest contests of the year a month from now.
The stakes will be much higher in the Maharashtra elections this year will be much different from the one held in 2019. The Shiv Sena and the NCP -- the two regional behemoths -- have seen a split and will be contesting against each other in key bastions. For BJP and Congress, this will another key direct contest that will decide the narrative for either side.
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