"Everyone knew that Sharad Pawar's agent had been working in Shiv Sena (UBT)": BJP Prem Shukla

Speaking to the media, Shukla said "Everyone knew that Sharad Pawar's agent had been working in Shiv Sena (UBT) for long. Infact many of the Shiv Sainiks believed that a few leaders of Shiv Sena have kept dancing at the direction of Sharad Pawar and that is the reason why Shiv Sena split.

Meanwhile, on October 18, opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi accused the ruling coalition of misusing the government machinery to remove legitimate voters from the voter lists' ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole while addressing an MVA press conference said, "The BJP is making changes to the voter list and removing names of the voters from the electoral rolls, despite the Election Commission's assurance of free and fair elections in Maharashtra."

Notably, Maha Vikas Aghadi is the alliance of Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT (Uddhav Thackeray's faction) and NCP-SP (Sharad Pawar's faction). They are up against ruling Mahayuti is the alliance of BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction).

He further alleged that CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis are involved in this, adding that BJP is scared of losing the elections.

"Form Number 7 is used to get names deleted from the existing electoral roll by raising objections. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are involved behind all this," said Patole.

He added, "The BJP is aware they are losing the elections in Maharashtra and that is why they have resort to such tactics. The state will not forgive them for it."

Assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday (October 15, 2024).

With this, the political parties have begun gearing up for an election that will be unprecedented in many ways.In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Congress and unified Shiv Sena had won 154 out of 288 seats as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition.

However, this time around the Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar's NCP and Congress are in alliance to counter the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. (ANI)