Even as talks continue within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to finalise the candidates on around 20 contentious seats, the 236 seats for which names have been declared by the three parties as of Saturday show that despite hiccups, the alliance has 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 84 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. Both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) have declared a candidate in the Paranda Assembly seat in the Dharashiv district. All three parties on Saturday released second lists targeting the strongholds of respective sides and giving preference to new faces to enter the electoral fray. The Congress released its third list late Saturday night. According to sources, each party knows the strongholds of each side. “The strategy should be to focus on respective strongholds and win as many seats as possible. Yes, there are some disputes and miscommunication issues, but as dust settles, winnability becomes the only criteria,” the leader said. He added that apart from focusing on strongholds, each side will choose seats based on local equations and strength. With 67 seats yet to be announced, all three parties hope to accommodate other MVA allies as well. The talks between all three parties, however, are not over yet and the tussle to gain more seats continues. On Friday, Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat had said in Delhi that each party would be getting 90 seats and the rest of the seats would be discussed with the smaller allies. On Saturday, Thorat held talks with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and later with NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. Maharashtra NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil on Saturday said, “Our talks are complete and few adjustments would be required. The last date of filing nominations is October 29 and we still have time to finalise everything.” Assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held on November 20 and results will be declared on November 23.
