MVA allies form coordination panel for 2024 Lok Sabha seat-sharing talks

Allies within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra have established a nine-member coordination committee, comprising three leaders from each constituent party. The primary objective of this committee is to engage in discussions regarding seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, who is part of this committee, confirmed its formation on Thursday.

The MVA alliance consists of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar group). Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, holds the distinction of having the second-highest number of seats after Uttar Pradesh (80).

Prithviraj Chavan said that his party's leadership in the state will convene a meeting to establish its position and strategy for the seat-sharing negotiations with other MVA partners. He emphasized that the parties will collectively work out the formula for allocating Lok Sabha constituencies among themselves.

In addition to Chavan, the Congress members in the coordination committee include senior leaders Naseem Khan and Basavraj Patil. Naseem Khan highlighted that all MVA allies have unanimously agreed that the criterion for distributing Lok Sabha constituencies should prioritize winnability.

The Congress is set to conduct a region-wise assessment of all 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state from October 7 to October 12 to make informed decisions on candidate selection.

A senior Congress leader emphasized the need for careful candidate selection to ensure the transfer of votes between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress, who formed an alliance in Maharashtra in 2019. The Nationalist Congress Party (undivided) has been a longstanding ally of the Congress.

Representing the Shiv Sena (UBT) in the coordination committee are Sanjay Raut, Vinayak Raut, and Anil Desai, while former ministers Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad, and Anil Deshmukh are members from the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar group).