Maharashtra Elections: Will AAP Contest Polls? Sanjay Singh Ends Suspense On Party's Role In MVA

The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which comprises Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), will contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. However, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will campaign for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, party MP Sanjay Singh announced on social platform X.

"In the Maharashtra elections, the party's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal ji will campaign for the MVA candidates. Aam Aadmi Party will not contest elections in Maharashtra," the Rajya Sabha MP tweeted.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition comprises Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP). The three coalition partners have decided to contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra polls.

According to a report by news agency PTI, the AAP was contacted by both Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) regarding Kejriwal campaigning in Maharashtra. Kejriwal will also reportedly campaign for Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the Jharkhand assembly election.

The opposition's MVA is pitted against the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which comprises Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, BJP, and Ajit Pawar's NCP.

In Maharashtra, polling will be held in a single-phase for its 288-member assembly on November 20. In Jharkhand, elections for its 81 constituencies will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20. The counting of votes in both states will be done on November 23.

Both MVA and AAP are members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which was formed before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the ruling BJP. Thereafter, AAP entered into an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Gujarat, and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. However, it chose to go solo in Punjab. Recently, it also contested the Haryana Assembly elections independently, but failed to win even a single seat. 

However, in a historic win, the AAP managed to open its account in Jammu and Kashmir, with its party candidate Mehraj Malik winning the Doda seat.

In the previous Assembly elections in 2019, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP had won 122 seats, the Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42.