CLAIM
As Maharashtra gears up for its Assembly elections on 21 October, a list of candidates has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp with the claim that it is a list of candidates released by Shiv Sena.
The purported list has the names of 70 candidates, including Sena scion Aditya Thackeray, who will be contesting the upcoming elections.
This list comes at a time when the suspense over the seat-sharing numbers between BJP-Shiv Sena continues with BJP releasing its first list of 125 candidates.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
The Quint spoke to Harshal Pradhan, the PRO of Shiv Sena, who refuted releasing any such list. Pradhan said that the list doing the rounds on the internet hasn’t been released by the party and there is no signature at the bottom of the list.
BJP-SHIV SENA ALLIANCE
The BJP released its first list of candidates for 125 candidates on 1 October.
Incumbent Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will contest from Nagpur (South West), prominent leaders Chandrakant Patil and Pankaja Munde will contest from Kothrud and Parli constituencies respectively. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil will contest the polls from Shirdi and Girish Mahajan will be fielded from Jamner.
Earlier, sources had told The Quint that while the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP will contest on 146 seats out of 288 seats, Sena has agreed to contest on 126 seats. Sixteen of the remaining seats have reportedly been left for smaller allies. However, no formal announcement regarding the seat sharing number has been made.
In the 2014 elections, the BJP and the Sena had contested separately over a dispute over sharing of seats. The BJP won 122 out of 260 seats it had contested while the Sena bagged 63 out of 282 seats.
Both the parties later joined hands to form a BJP-led government.
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