Following weeks of intense negotiations, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition revealed their seat-sharing plan for the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra on Tuesday. As per the plan, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) will contest 21 seats, the Congress party will vie for 17 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) will field candidates in 10 seats.
The seat-sharing arrangement was jointly announced by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole. The MVA and the ruling Mahayuti, which includes the BJP, NCP led by Ajit Pawar, and Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, are fiercely competing for the 48 parliamentary seats in Maharashtra.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena allied and secured 23 and 18 seats respectively.
The upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state are scheduled in five phases from April 19 to May 20. The constituencies of Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, and Chandrapur will cast their votes in the first phase on April 19.
Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani are scheduled to vote in the second phase on April 26. The third phase will include Raigad, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and Kolhapur, with voting set for May 7.
Polling across Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Beed, and Shirdi will take place in the fourth phase on May 13. Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South, and Mumbai South-Central are scheduled to vote in the final phase on May 20.
The votes will be counted on June 4.