Maharashtra Elections 2024: The BJP has fielded candidates in 148 seats, the most seats contested by any party in the November 20 assembly elections in Maharashtra, which has a total of 288 MPs. As of the close of nomination filing on Tuesday, October 29, the Congress party is contesting 103 seats.
In the ruling Mahayut camp, the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has fielded candidates in 80 seats, while Deputy Prime Minister Ajit The National Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar has nominated 53 candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Five seats have been allocated to other Mahayut allies, but two seats are yet to be decided.
The MVA, which consists of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress Party and the nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction), is fighting the Mahayutialliance of Shinde’s ruling Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the NCP in the elections.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is contesting on 103 seats, followed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on 89 seats and the NCP (SP) on 87 seats. Six seats have been allocated to other MVA allies, but the three assembly segments are not yet known.
8,000 candidates compete
The 2019 assembly elections were held without a split between the Shiv Sena and the National Congress Party (NCP).
Nearly 8,000 candidates, including major political parties from both the ruling and opposition parties, have submitted nominations for 288 seats.
As many as 7,995 candidates have submitted 10,905 nominations to the Electoral Commission (EC) for the November 20 polls, a statement from the office of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.
In 2019, the Statewide Election Commission received a total of 5,543 nominations, resulting in 3,239 candidates running for Congress that year.
Nominations for candidates opened on October 22 and ended on October 29.
Voting will take place on November 20 and votes will be counted three days later.