Sources from a meeting involving leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have indicated to India Today TV that the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray within the Shiv Sena is expected to secure the highest number of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra under the seat-sharing arrangement within the INDIA bloc.
The leaders of the mentioned parties, constituting the Opposition alliance INDIA, convened at the residence of Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss and negotiate the seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. The discussions also encompassed the possibility of involving other parties such as Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and the Peasants and Workers Party to tap into the votes of the Left and farmers in Raigadh.
Maharashtra holds a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured 23 seats, the Shiv Sena (undivided) won 18 seats, while the Congress and NCP secured 1 and 4 seats, respectively.
Following the meeting, Sanjay Raut, a leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), stated, "All members of Maha Vikas Aghadi came out of the meeting smiling, indicating that the members of Maha Vikas Aghadi, including Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP, sat down to discuss seat-sharing and reached consensus on most points. I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together, and we have no qualms about seat sharing."
Before the meeting, Sanjay Raut had informed India Today TV that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would be negotiating for 23 Lok Sabha seats with Congress. He emphasized that the party fought and won 23 seats, despite the departure of a party member (referring to Eknath Shinde), and asserted that their voter base remained intact.
