99 percent work has been completed on seat sharing among Maha Vikas Aghadi: Sanjay Raut

Mumbai. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said that 99 percent work has been completed on seat sharing among Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the leaders of the three parties of the alliance can announce it today. Talking to reporters, Raut also indicated that his party could contest 100 seats. Elections for the 288-member assembly in Maharashtra will be held on November 20 and the counting of votes will be held on November 23. Top leaders of the opposition alliance MVA met here late Tuesday night and indicated that the seat sharing for the assembly elections has been finalized. Especially after the talks between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress hit a roadblock, senior state Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday first met Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar and then Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. Later, Thorat and other MVA leaders held another meeting, which lasted for several hours at a hotel here. The leaders of the three parties held intense discussions on seat sharing which continued till late Tuesday night. Raut said on Wednesday, “99 per cent work on seat sharing has been completed. By this evening, the leaders of the three parties will hold a press conference.” He said, “Shiv Sena (referring to its faction led by Uddhav Thackeray) is an experienced party, so it has to score a century. People have expectations that Shiv Sena should score a century in seats and overall victory.” Taking a dig at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which have released their first list of candidates, Raut said that the MVA has to form the government, so the allies have taken time. The Rajya Sabha member said that discussions have been held on each assembly seat. He said that although the MVA has not released its list, the three parties have already given ‘A’ and ‘B’ forms to their candidates. The ‘A’ and ‘B’ forms are important documents that show that a political party has approved the names of certain candidates and they should be given the election symbol of that party. Asked if his party would field a candidate from Mahim against MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray, Raut said the Shiv Sena was formed in the Mahim-Dadar region and it is not possible that it will not field a candidate there. Raut also said that Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aditya Thackeray will win the Worli seat by a big margin this time. According to the list of candidates announced by MNS for the Maharashtra elections, Amit Thackeray, son of party chief Raj Thackeray, will make his electoral debut from the Mahim assembly seat in central Mumbai. Amit will be the third member of the Thackeray family to contest. His father Raj Thackeray never contested any election. Amit’s cousin Aditya Thackeray made his electoral debut by winning the neighbouring Worli seat in the 2019 assembly elections. Uddhav Thackeray also contested the Legislative Council elections in 2020 after becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.