Pune: With the Assembly elections on the horizon, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) Leader Sharad Pawar officially announced that the NCP (SP), Congress, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) will contest the elections together as a unified front.

In a press conference, Sharad Pawar shared insights into the preparations and strategies of the alliance, including the ongoing review of potential candidates.

Pawar highlighted that a large number of aspirants are vying for nominations in various constituencies. He acknowledged the democratic process wherein well-wishers of candidates advocate on their behalf, but he emphasized that candidate selection will not be a unilateral decision.

"The views of all our colleagues will be taken into consideration, and only after a detailed assessment of each situation will we finalize our candidates," Pawar explained.

The candidate selection process will be led by NCP (SP) State President Jayant Patil and his team, who are set to conduct interviews with hopefuls. Since this election will be contested by a three-party alliance, negotiations for seat-sharing are critical.

Discussions are currently ongoing, with all three parties striving to reach a consensus on how seats will be distributed. Pawar indicated that these talks are expected to conclude soon, allowing the alliance to move forward with candidate announcements.

For the past three days, leaders from the NCP SP, Congress, and Shiv Sena UBT have been meeting in Mumbai to finalize seat-sharing arrangements. Pawar assured that once the allocations are confirmed, the respective parties will swiftly proceed with candidate selection, paving the way for an active campaign.

Reflecting on past election outcomes, Pawar noted that five years ago, Congress secured only one parliamentary seat, while the NCP SP won five.

This time, however, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance managed to win 30 out of 48 seats in recent elections, signaling a significant shift in public opinion, according to Pawar.