Mumbai, April 12 Even as the nomination filing process for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections slated for May 7 began on Friday, the ruling MahaYuti partners in Maharashtra are yet to seal the seat-sharing arrangements in eight Lok Sabha seats of the state.
Leaders of the MahaYuti partners -- BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP -- are now appealing to their respective parties to announce candidates for the eight seats at the earliest.
The eight seats in question are South Mumbai, North West Mumbai, North Central Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Nashik, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and Satara.
In Thane, the home turf of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Shiv Sena wants to field its candidate while the BJP has also staked its claim for the seat. Similarly, in Palghar, both the parties have staked their claims while the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi has also decided to field its nominee.
Both the BJP and Shiv Sena have expressed their desire to contest the South Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg seats, while the NCP, along with the Shiv Sena and BJP, is demanding the Nashik seat.
The NCP is keen to field its minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Nashik, while pressure is mounting on the Shiv Sena to renominate its sitting MP Hemant Godse from the seat. The BJP leadership in Nashik district also wants to field a party candidate from the seat.
In North West Mumbai, the Shiv Sena is yet to decide whether to renominate sitting MP Gajanan Kirtikar against his son and Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar.
In North Central Mumbai, the BJP has not yet zeroed in on the renomination of its sitting MP Poonam Mahajan. In Satara too, the BJP is unable to take a call on the nomination of its Rajya Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Similarly, the stalemate continues between the BJP and the Shiv Sena over the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat.
While the BJP is expected to nominate Union Minister Narayan Rane, the Shiv Sena is eyeing to field Kiran Samant, the brother of state Industry Minister Uday Samant, from the seat.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has already renominated sitting Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut.
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