Today in Politics: A day to go for nominations, the final MVA seat-sharing begins

On Friday, SP’s Maharashtra president Abu Azmi said if the MVA does not reach any consensus with smaller allies, it will field candidates on 20-25 seats. The SP has already fielded five candidates and has sought seven seats.

As of Sunday, the parties have in all declared the names of at least 250 candidates.

In these seats, the alliance has more or less focused on each party’s strength and has allocated seats to each other accordingly.

An analysis of candidates announced till now shows that the Shiv Sena (UBT), which has declared candidates for 85 seats, has given 40 candidates, the highest, for the Konkan region and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The second highest, 13 candidates, are for Marathwada, while 11 candidates are for North Maharashtra. It has announced nine and seven candidates for Vidarbha and Western Maharashtra, respectively.

The Congress, which has announced a list of 99 candidates, has declared the highest 34 candidates for Vidarbha, 17 for Konkan and MMR, 15 for Western Maharashtra, 14 for Marathwada, and 11 in North Maharashtra.

The Nationalist Congress Party (SP), out of 67 of its candidates, has named 29 for Western Maharashtra, 12 for Marathwada, and eight each from remaining the three regions.

Modi, Sanchez in Ahmedabad

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez will jointly inaugurate the TATA Aircraft Complex in Vadodara.

The two leaders will lead a roadshow from the airport to the Tata Advanced Systems facility on Monday morning. After inaugurating the aircraft complex, Modi and Sanchez will visit the Laxmi Vilas Palace, the residence of the erstwhile Baroda royal family, where they will hold a bilateral meeting over lunch, officials said.

Jharkhand poll tension

The Hemant Soren-led JMM in Jharkhand wrote to the Election Commission on Sunday to demand the removal of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar and two senior IPS officers — and alleged they were working in favour of the BJP.

“Giridih police today intercepted a vehicle carrying Mandal Murmu along with some other persons. When asked, the people on board did not reply as to where they were going. So, the police detained the vehicle. Mandal Murmu happens to be one of the proposers of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who has filed his nomination from the Barhait assembly constituency,” JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said.

“Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar and two senior IPS officials, misusing their official position, put undue pressure on the Giridih administration to release the vehicle,” he alleged.Bhattacharya claimed that this was a gross violation of the model code of conduct, and urged the EC to investigate the matter.

When contacted, the CEO said a press conference was convened on Monday on the issue.

– with PTI inputs