MVA partners seal seat-sharing agreement for LS polls

Mumbai:  The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SS-UBT), Congress, and the NCP - Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) are believed to have sealed the seat-sharing agreement in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections.

Despite the split, SS-UBT will be a "big brother" as the party is expected to get a lion's share with 22 seats followed by Congress' 16 seats and NCP-SP's 10 seats to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra's 48 Parliamentary constituencies.

Informed sources from the three parties said that three MVA partners are making all efforts to leave at least four seats to Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi and one to Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana led by Raju Shetti, from their respective quota.

Shiv Sena's 22 seats will include Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Raigad, Thane, Kalyan, Palghar, Nashik, Shirdi, Jalgaon, Maval, Dharashiv, Parbhani, Sambhajinagar, Buldhana, Hingole, Yavatmal, Hatkalangane (SS-UBT may leave for Raju Shetti), Sangli, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North East.

The Congress' quota of 16 seats consists of Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Ramtek, Amravati, Akola, Latur, Nanded, Jalna, Dhule, Nandurbar, Pune, Solapur, Kolhapur and Mumbai North. Further, NCP-SP has bagged 10 seats comprising Baramati, Shirur, Beed, Dindoshi, Raver, Ahmednagar, Madha (where the party may support the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha founder Mahadev Jankar), Satara, Wardha and Bhiwandi.