After EC’s official recognition of providing ‘Shiv Sena’ name and symbol to the Shinde group, the other parties including the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have pledged to unitedly contest the forthcoming elections under the MVA banner. The EC’s move may affect the expansion of Uddhav Thackeray’s party. Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sharad Pawar-led NCP is aggressively pursuing an outreach strategy as focused on the youth, women and farmers, for which weekly programmes are being organised. While the Congress is engaged in an in-house power tussle, and Thackeray faction is fighting for survival, the NCP has a lot of scope of making deep inroads across its bastion in West Maharashtra into Marathwada and North Maharashtra.