Overview

• B. Sudarshan Reddy met Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree, where Shiv Sena (UBT) and other Maha Vikas Aghadi partners pledged wholehearted support.
• Reddy also called on NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) chief Sharad Pawar, who said a request to back the NDA nominee was declined.
• The Election Commission has scheduled polling for September 9 with counting the same day, using an electoral college of 781 with a majority mark of 391.
• The NDA has fielded Maharashtra Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan, setting up a two-candidate contest with the INDIA bloc’s former Supreme Court judge.
• Opposition leaders continue to cast the race as an ideological test even as parliamentary arithmetic favors the ruling alliance.