Shiv Sena 124 seats, BJP and smaller allies 164: NDA's Maharashtra assembly election alliance deal

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday confirmed the seat sharing deal between the two parties for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. As per the seat-sharing deal, the BJP would be contesting on 164 assembly seats, while the Shiv Sena would field its candidates on 124 seats.

Image Courtesy: Twitter/@ANI

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday confirmed the seat sharing deal between the two parties for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. As per the seat-sharing deal, the BJP and its allies would be contesting on 164 assembly seats, while the Shiv Sena would field its candidates on 124 seats.

Out of the 164 seats of the BJP,  the party will share its 14 seats will the smaller allies including the Republican Party of India-A, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, the Shiv Sangram Party, and the Rayat Kranti Sanghatana.

Sena's youth president and Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray was also present at the joint press conference. 29-year-old Sena scion will be contesting from Worli assembly seat, and is the first member from the Thackeray family to enter the electoral fray after the wife of Jeetendra Thackeray, a cousin of MNS founder Raj Thackeray, Shalini Thackeray,  who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking on Aaditya's candidature, BJP senior leader and Maharashtra CM Fadnavis said, "I am confident the Aditya Thackeray will win by a very huge margin in the elections and we will see him with us in the assembly."

Aaditya has been projected as Shiv Sena's chief ministerial candidate if the alliance returns to power in the state. Uddhav Thackeray, being asked on the party's stand, said, "The first step in politics doesn’t mean that you have to become the Chief Minister of this state. He has just entered politics, this is just the beginning."

Responding to reports suggesting that some of the candidates who were given a party ticket by the BJP have filed nominations as independent candidates, CM Fadnavic said, "In the coming days we will ask all the rebel candidates to withdraw and this will be done with the rebel candidates of each party of the grand alliance. If they don’t comply then they will not get any position in any of our alliance parties."

On Tuesday, the BJP and Shiv Sena had released a list of 125 candidates and 71 candidates respectively who will contest the Maharashtra assembly poll, scheduled for October 21. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, who has found a place in the first list for assembly polls, will contest from Nagpur South West. It is to be noted that Fadnavis had contested from this seat in 2014 too.

BJP Maharashtra Chief Chandrakant Patil has been fielded from Kothrud while Pankaja Munde will contest from Parli. Shivendra Singh, who is a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivji Maharaj, will contest from Satara assembly. Mukta Tilak, the daughter-in-law of Lokmanya Tilak, has been given the ticket from Kasba Pet. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who quit Congress and joined BJP recently, will contest from Shirdi. State Minister Girish Mahajan will contest from Jamner. 

According to the first list of Shiv Sena, Aditya Thackeray has been fielded from Worli assembly constituency, a party stronghold in south-central Mumbai. The 29-year old grandson of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, Aditya will be the first member from the Thackeray family to enter the electoral fray after Shalini Thackeray, the wife of Jeetendra Thackeray, a cousin of MNS founder Raj Thackeray, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.