The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena announced the names of 65 candidates this evening, confirming that the seat-sharing arrangement for Maharashtra has been finalized after weeks of intense negotiations. According to the Shiv Sena, each of the three major allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition—Sena UBT, Congress, and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party—will contest 85 seats each, making a total of 255 seats allocated among them. The remaining 33 seats in the 288-member assembly will be distributed among smaller allies and possibly shared among the three main parties, indicating that this initial allocation might still undergo changes.

At a press conference this evening, Sanjay Raut of Sena UBT and Nana Patole from Congress confirmed the agreement. Raut stated, "Our final meeting with Pawar Saheb has concluded. He instructed us to inform the media that the seat-sharing for the MVA has been successfully resolved. We have finalized it with the 85-85-85 formula, which would total 270 seats. The remaining 18 seats will be allocated to our allies."

However, when it was pointed out that the 85-seat formula totals only 255, Sena’s Anil Desai clarified, "We need to prepare for filling the forms, and an agreement has been reached on the 85-85-85 distribution. The rest will be assigned to smaller friendly parties after further discussions."

Following a lengthy six-hour meeting that continued past midnight, the MVA allies convened again this morning, with veteran leader Sharad Pawar facilitating talks between Congress and Shiv Sena UBT, who had reached an impasse over a few seats in Mumbai, Nashik, and Vidarbha.

Sources indicated that consensus had not yet been reached on 15 seats in North Maharashtra, Vidarbha, and Mumbai, including South Nagpur, Amravati, Ghatkopar West, Byculla, Versova, Kurla, and Bandra East, along with Parola-Aerodual and Nashik West.

There were also disagreements on the number of seats each party should contest. The Sena (UBT) had advocated for 100 seats each for itself and Congress, with 88 seats for Sharad Pawar's party, while Congress, buoyed by its recent Lok Sabha performance in the state, was pushing for 125 seats.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition secured 30 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, with Congress contributing 13 seats, while the ruling alliance won 17, and one seat went to an independent candidate.

The polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is scheduled for a single phase on November 20, with vote counting set for November 23.