Maha prep to keep flock together

ALL hands on deck, political adversaries in Maharashtra—the ruling Maha Yuti and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi—are readying for all sorts of exigencies that the Assembly results could throw up on Saturday.

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI

Maharashtra has 288-member Assembly voting for which took place on November 20.

At stake is the fate of key state leaders such as CM Eknath Shinde of his Shiv Sena faction, his deputy Devendra Fadnavis of BJP, Ajit Pawar of his faction of NCP, Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) and senior Congress leaders. After the Lok Sabha polls, this is the second time the NCP and Shiv Sena face voters' verdict after their parties split.

NCP (SP) patriarch Sharad Pawar on Friday had a virtual meeting with his party candidates on Friday and told them not to leave the polling centres unless the last vote is counted. He also told them that after getting the election certificate, they should rush to Mumbai.