Mumbai: Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is part of the BJP-led NDA alliance, will be contesting in 18 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to a party leader, Shiv Sena will be contesting in the 18 seats that it had won last time in 2019. "A decision has been taken to form a coordination committee for Mumbai. Instructions were also given to MPs Rahul Shewale and Milind Deora with regards to the party's poll preparations in Mumbai," the leader told news agency PTI.

"We will contest 18 seats we won in 2019. We have given Chief Minister Shinde the authority to decide on the four seats we lost," said the party leader who is also an MP from north Maharashtra. It is not clear how many seats the constituents of the ruling alliance, comprising the BJP, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, will contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The MPs were also told to focus on the bill passed by the state government to give reservation to the Maratha community, the infrastructure works carried out by the Centre as well as the state government and Hindutva. Emphasising better coordination between allies, CM Shinde also directed that a coordination committee be formed for better synergy.

During the meeting, the MPs were asked whether any last minute intervention was needed with regards to work in their constituencies before the model code of conduct kicks in for the Lok Sabha polls, which are to he held in the first half of the year. The party will also focus on the rapid infrastructure development in the city, he said.

The undivided Shiv Sena contested 22 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and won 18 of them. After the split in the Shiv Sena in June 2022, 13 of these MPs remained with Shinde while five stayed with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). 

(With inputs from PTI)