Maharashtra Assembly Polls: MVA allies remain in limbo as final nomination day nears

The CPM has announced candidates for Dahanu (ST), Kalvan (ST), Solapur Central and Nashik West. Except for the Nashik west and Solapur Central, the MVA allies have not announced their candidates for the remaining two seats. “We await any sort of communication from the three parties for the past two-three days. However, we haven’t heard from them. We are left with no option but to move ahead with our process of filing the nomination,” said Uday Narkar, CPM’s Maharashtra unit secretary.

The PWP has already declared its five candidates from Panvel, Uran, Alibaug, Sangola and Loha. “Since the MVA did not approach us, we held talks with Sharad Pawar ji and Uddhav Thackeray ji individually,” said Raju Korde, PWP’s Office Secretary.

Out of five, the MVA has not announced its candidate for the Panvel seat. PWP sources claim that irrespective of Shiv Sena – UBT announcing candidates in Sangola and Alibaug, the party is in a comfortable position. However, a division of votes in Loha and Uran could harm the prospects of the party. “The MVA was to give at least 18 seats to the smaller allies. What has happened to it? We have not heard anything about it,” said Korde.

The Samajwadi Party too is waiting for the MVA’s communication. Party MLA Rais Shaikh said that the meeting to discuss three seats is likely on Monday night and the party hopes to find a solution. Two seats for the SP, namely Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar which is currently represented by Abu Azmi and Bhiwandi East where Shaikh himself is an MLA, are cleared for the party.

“We have asked for a seat each in Malegaon and Dhule as well as Bhiwandi west. There has been no communication in this regard with us. Tomorrow is the last date of filing the nomination and we hope that the issue gets resolved tonight itself,” he said.

Within MVA, the Congress has cleared 102 seats while SS-UBT and NCP-SP respectively have got 85 and 82 seats as of now. According to sources within the Congress, the initial plan was that the bigger parties will give seats to smaller parties from their respective quotas. “However, the tussle over the seat sharing between three parties forced us to change all the plans. However, we are confident of finding a solution soon,” a Congress leader said.