According to the sources, the much-anticipated alliance of BJP-Shiv Sena has been finally agreed upon by both sides. BJP president Amit Shah chaired a meeting in Mumbai on Thursday with the party’s core group from Maharashtra to finalize the plans.
BJP National President & Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah chaired the Maharashtra BJP State Core Group Meeting. pic.twitter.com/mmqIDLl6yJ
— BJP (@BJP4India) September 26, 2019
It is expected that the saffron party will fight on around 144 seats while Shiv Sena will contest on 126 seats in the upcoming elections of Maharashtra assembly on October 21. Remaining 18 seats out of a total of 288-seater basket will be offered to smaller regional parties, as per the reports.
It has also been decided that the post of Deputy Chief Minister will go to a leader from Shiv Sena party. The decision came off from the yesterday’s meeting in which Amit Shah, BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, and party general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Saroj Pandey were present. The party is also said to have narrowed down their choices of candidates.
Now it is expected that the final game-plan of BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will be made public on September 29.
Earlier, it was reported that both the parties have locked their horns over five seats of Wadala, Airoli, Belapur, Ulhasnagar, and Ausa in Latur.
Previous collaboration-
In 2014 elections, BJP had won 122 seats while Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena could secure 63 seats in its hands. Both the parties fought the elections separately.
However, after a few months, Shiv Sena joined the BJP government-led by Fadnavis. Since then the Sena insisted upon fighting the next elections on 50:50 seat basis.
Important Dates for Maharashtra Polls-
- The detailed notification will be issued on September 27.
- Filing of nominations for will begin from September 27 to October 4.
- Scrutiny of applications will be done on October 5.
- Nominations withdrawal can be done till October 7.
- Elections will take place on October 21.
- Counting of votes will be done on October 24.
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