The ruling NDA allies have arrived at a possible seat sharing in Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
Of the total 48 seats in the state, BJP is expected to contest in 31 seats, CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena will get 13 seats while Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party will contest on 4 seats, sources have said.
Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP will contest the seats they currently hold in the Parliament.
Meanwhile, out of 6 Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, BJP will contest on 5 seats while Shiv Sena will contest on 1 seat, they added.
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While the BJP will get North Mumbai, North East Mumbai, North West Mumbai, North Central Mumbai and South Mumbai, Shiv Sena will get the South Central Mumbai seat, where Rahul Shewale is expected to contest.
The BJP, meanwhile, released its second list of 72 candidates on Wednesday for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from across states including Maharashtra. The party declared candidates for 20 out of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal and former state minister Pankaja Munde.
The saffron party has also fielded Piyush Goyal from Mumbai North and Mihir Kotecha from Mumbai North East.
Gadkari's name had not appeared in the BJP's first list of candidates, prompting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to give him an open offer to contest as the opposition's candidate.
Another new face in the second list was state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar (Chandrapur).
The BJP has given all Union ministers from Maharashtra tickets again in the 2024 polls. The party replaced Jalgaon Lok Sabha member Unmesh Patil by fielding local leader Smita Wagh. Anup Dhotre replaced his father and sitting Akola MP Sanjay Dhotre in the list.From Pune, the party fielded former mayor Murlidhar Mohol.