Ramdas Athawale: Mahayuti will win 230-240 seats in Maharashtra

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale expressed confidence in the 'Mahayuti' alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Republican Party of India to return to power with around 230-240 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Legislative Assembly has 288 seats.

"We had kept in front of the people what all work we did in the last five years and are planning to do in the next five years. That's why I feel people will support us and we will win 230-240 seats," said the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

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Athawale's RPI has six candidates in fray

Ramdas Athawale's RPI is contesting from six seats in Maharashtra – Phaltan in Satara, Malshiras in Solapur, Bhandara, Naigaon in Nanded, Pathri in Parbhani, and Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai. Athawale had previously hinted displeasure over the distribution of seats among the allies during seat-sharing discussions. He later came to terms when the alliance settled.

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Maharashtra Assembly polls

In Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena Alliance are pitted against the Congress-NCP alliance. A total of 8,98,39,600 people, including 4,28,43,635 women, are eligible to vote. As many as 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are contesting in 288 seats and 96,661 polling booths are in place with 6.5 lakh staff for the voting exercise.

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While the BJP has based its campaign in Maharashtra around the abrogation of Article 370, corruption charges on NCP and Congress leaders among others, the opposition tried to corner the BJP on the handling of the economy. The BJP, which is seeking a second straight term under CM Fadnavis in Maharashtra, is contesting 164 seats, which include candidates of smaller allies contesting on its lotus symbol, while Sena has fielded candidates on 126 seats. On the other hand, the Congress and the NCP are contesting on an equal number of seats, that is 125 each.

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(With inputs from ANI)