MVA seals seat-sharing for Maharashtra, Congress to contest on 105-110 seats, Uddhav Sena 90-95  

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, sources told India Today. As per the proposed agreement, the Congress will contest 105-110 seats, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) will field candidates on 90-95 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar will contest 75-80 constituencies.  

The Congress has become the party number one in terms of seat-share in Maharashtra. In the Lok Sabha elections, the grand old party bagged the highest 13 seats, followed by the Udhhav Sena's 9. Uddhav Thackeray had earlier hoped for 120-125 seats. His party had contested 124 in the last assembly polls.  

The MVA, formed after the 2019 state elections, is aiming to unseat the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP. The opposition bloc hopes to replicate its success from the recent Lok Sabha elections, where it outperformed the Mahayuti alliance, securing 30 seats to Mahayuti's 17. Congress won 13 of the 17 seats it contested, while Shiv Sena (UBT) secured 9 out of 21.  

The MVA alliance faced internal disputes over seat distribution, with Congress leader Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut publicly clashing over allocations. To address these disagreements, the MVA leaders held a marathon nine-hour meeting at the Trident Hotel in South Mumbai on Saturday. 
Meanwhile, the Mahayuti has also clinched the seat-sharing and the BJP is expected to contest 152-155 seats. As per the deal, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena will get 78-80 seats, and the NCP faction 52-54 seats. The final agreement was reached during a meeting at Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence in Delhi.

The Maharashtra Assembly election will be held on November 20, with vote counting set for November 23.

(With inputs from Sahil Joshi)