Eknath Shinde drops hint on Maharashtra assembly poll schedule, says…

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said that the state assembly elections are expected to be held in the second week of November.

“Elections are likely in the second week of November. A two-phase election would be preferable. Merit and good strike rate will the criteria for seat-sharing among the Mahayuti allies,” PTI quoted Shinde as saying during an informal conversation with reporters at his official residence ‘Varsha’ in Mumbai.

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Shinde said that the seat sharing between Mahayuti allies BJP and NCP will be finalised in the next 8-10 days.

The seat-sharing will be finalised in 8 to 10 days, he added.

According to an HT report, the BJP is insisting on contesting between 150-160 seats. If it happens, the NCP and Shiv sena will only get 128-138 seats between them.

Shinde expressed confidence that there is support for his government among women.

“We have struck a balance between development and welfare schemes. The appointment letters have been given to 1.5 lakh youth for jobs under the skilled training programme for which they will get a stipend from ₹6,000 to ₹10,000. The target is to cover 10 lakh youth,” the CM said.

The Maharashtra assembly elections will be held months after the ruling Mahayuti alliance suffered a setback in the general elections. In Maharashtra, the BJP’s seat count reduced to just nine. Shinde’s Shiv Sena won seven while Ajit Pawar’s NCP could bag just one seat.

On the other hand, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi won 30 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra. The Congress bagged 13 seats while NCP (SP) bagged eight and Shiv Sena (UBT) clinched nine seats.

After the 2019 Maharashtra election results, the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena parted ways over the chief minister’s post issue. The Sena joined hands with Congress and undivided NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.

In 2022, Shinde rebelled against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, also the Sena chief. The then urban development minister along with 39 other Sena MLAs camped at a hotel in Guwahati and later in Goa, reducing the Aghadi government to a minority.

Thackeray resigned ahead of the floor test and the MVA government collapsed. Shinde took oath as chief minister with Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy. Last year, NCP also split with Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit joined the ruling coalition and took oath as a deputy CM.