KALYAN: The Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) have finalised their seat-sharing formula and will jointly contest the upcoming Kalyan–Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections. Under the agreement, the Congress will contest 55 seats, the NCP (SP) 45 seats and the VBA 12 seats.The three parties has kept 10 seats in spares on which three parties have not finalized any candidates.
Earlier, alliance discussions were also held between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress for the KDMC elections. However, following the Mumbai model, the Shiv Sena (UBT) decided to ally with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the KDMC polls as well, thereby distancing itself from the Congress. In the wake of this development, the Congress moved ahead with the NCP (SP) and the VBA, finalising the alliance to fight the civic elections together.Following the finalisation of the seat-sharing arrangement, the three parties have begun distributing AB forms to their candidates since late evening. Sources said that although the seat-sharing formula has been finalised, there are around 10 seats where suitable candidates have not yet been identified. Discussions are still underway regarding who will contest from these constituencies.Meanwhile, Congress Kalyan district president Rajabhau Patkar expressed confidence in the alliance, stating that the Mahavikas Aghadi will contest the KDMC elections with full strength. He also claimed that the Mayor of the Kalyan–Dombivli Municipal Corporation will be elected from the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance.
