Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: Sharad Pawar may play mediator to resolve MVA stalemate; Congress CEC meeting today

Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: The impasse over seat-sharing between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), two of the three members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), persists as the grand old party's Central Election Committee convenes today to finalise candidates for the forthcoming Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections.

Amid the standoff, Congress' state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala met with former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday, reportedly requesting the veteran politician to play a mediator.

MVA leaders are involved in the ongoing seat-sharing talks to break the impasse as the state is set to go to polls on November 20. This when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced the names of 99 candidates for Maharashtra elections.

Though the MCA claims to have reached a consensus for 260 assembly seats, the remaining 28 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly remain a bone of contention.

Congress CEC today

The Congress' panel for screening candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls had cleared names on 62 seats last week for consideration of the CEC.

The Congress CEC meeting for Maharashtra was to take place on Sunday but was rescheduled for Monday. Some leaders said that the BJP had declared its first list of candidates for Maharashtra and some discussions were needed for particular seats, and the seat-sharing talk among MVA constituents was in the final phase.

Reports suggested former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has threatened to not participate in the talks if Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patoleattends them.

The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) is fighting against the ruling Shinde led Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and NCP's Mahayuti alliance.

The Sena (UBT) is learnt to have proposed a formula of 100 seats for the Congress and Sena-UBT each, and 88 for the NCP (SP). Patole, the reports said, however, has refused to climb down from 125 seats for the Congress, and is not ready to share seats in Vidarbha with the Sena (UBT).

While Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) are yet to declare their seat-sharing arrangement, their INDIA bloc ally and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has declared candidates for five of the 12 seats he is demanding.

The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that Maharashtra will vote in one phase on November 20 to elect its 288-member Assembly.

Jharkhand will go to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20.