MVA to announce final list in a day or two: Congress

MVA coalition will announce the final list of Lok Sabha candidates, seat-sharing formula; Congress to contest on 18 seats.

The Congress’ central election committee (CEC) had already finalised the 12 candidates, and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition would announce the seat-sharing formula and its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in a day or two.

The MVA allies, comprising of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), held a meeting at the residence of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Thursday morning and discussed to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements, campaigning, public meetings, and other election strategies, Maharashtra pradesh Congress committee chief Nana Patole said.

Mr. Patole, who is likely to contest from Vidharba’s Bhandara–Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency, said, “We are currently in discussions with our allies and will be announcing the final list in a day or two. The CEC in Delhi has finalised 12 candidates from our party.”

With Maharashtra boasting 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second most in the country after Uttar Pradesh, the election will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20, with vote counting scheduled for June 4. Mr. Patole, along with Congress Legislature Party leader Babasaheb Thorat, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, and AICC State in-charge Ramesh Chennithala attended the CEC meeting chaired by Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.

Sources told The Hindu that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would contest on 20 seats, while the Congress and the NCP (SP) would contest on 18 and 10 seats respectively. “The list includes former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti Shinde from Solapur, Vasant Chavan from Nanded and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj from Kolhapur,” they said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis took a jibe at the MVA over seat-sharing for Lok Sabha election and said that MVA leaders have been holding meetings for two months but haven’t reached a decision yet and the BJP, in just one meeting, took 80% decisions on seat-sharing.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar’s recent offer of support to Congress for seven Lok Sabha seats has added a new dimension to the political discourse, signalling potential shifts in alliances and strategies.