Maharashtra News: Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) MP Naresh Mhaske said on Saturday that two Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MPs are in contact with the Shinde camp of Shiv Sena and the NDA bloc. Mhaske, who won the Lok Sabha election from the Thane Lok Sabha seat, slammed the Uddhav faction and said that they have left the fundamental elements of Shiv Sena. He claimed that the Uddhav faction distributed lakhs of rupees to the particular religion to get their votes.
"Two MPs contacted us... They (Shiv Sena UBT) have left the fundamental elements of Shiv Sena. They distributed lakhs of rupees to the particular religion to get their votes. They went to the Masjid and told the people that their religion is in danger to get their votes," Mhaske said.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw a dip in the number of seats in Maharashtra. The saffron party managed to win nine seats in the state against 23 in the 2019 polls. The vote share stood at 26.18%. The Congress, on the other hand, witnessed an improvement in its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state. The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats, respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17.
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The saffron party's tally was much lower than its 2019 tally of 303 and the 282 seats it had won in 2014. The Congress, on the other hand, registered strong growth, winning 99 seats compared to 52 that it had won in 2019 and 44 seats in 2014. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark.
The BJP-led NDA bloc secured 293 seats and crossed the majority mark of 272 seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a third term, along with the support of other parties in the NDA coalition, primarily the Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) and the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP.