Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for MVA in Maharashtra, no AAP candidates in Assembly race

With 288 assembly seats, Maharashtra will head to the polls on November 20. Jharkhand's assembly election will take place in two phases, scheduled for November 13 and November 20, with results for both states to be announced on November 23.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come up with a decision not to contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, with party chief Arvind Kejriwal set to campaign instead for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, according to AAP leader Sanjay Singh. After weeks of silence on the issue, Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, clarified on Saturday that Kejriwal would support the MVA candidates, which include the Udhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP coalition, and the Congress party.

Taking to X, Singh said, "In the Maharashtra elections, our National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will support MVA candidates. The Aam Aadmi Party will not contest."

It is reportedly said that both Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP reached out to the AAP, requesting Kejriwal's involvement in Maharashtra's campaign. Alongside his support for the MVA, Kejriwal is expected to campaign for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the Jharkhand assembly elections, where Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s party is vying for re-election.

With 288 assembly seats, Maharashtra will head to the polls on November 20. Jharkhand's assembly election will take place in two phases, scheduled for November 13 and November 20, with results for both states to be announced on November 23.

The AAP, along with MVA constituents, is part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition formed to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The AAP has collaborated with Congress, the INDIA bloc's primary force, in Delhi, Gujarat, and Haryana for Lok Sabha campaigns. However, AAP contested independently in Punjab and Haryana's recent assembly elections, though it failed to secure any seats in Haryana.