Mumbai, June 4 (IANS): In an unexpected development, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) were ahead in 10 and eight Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra respectively as vote counting progressed here on Tuesday.

The ruling allies Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was leading in five seats including Kalyan where his son Dr Shrikant E. Shinde is contesting while the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had no leads including in Baramati where his wife Sunetra Pawar is in the fray.

On the other hand, the Shiv Sena (UBT) was trending in 10 seats and NCP (SP) in eight seats as per the counting at 10 a.m.

A 'sympathy factor' is said to be at play for Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar after the two parties suffered devastating vertical splits in June 2022 and July 2023, respectively.

The BJP was progressing in 16 seats and the Congress in seven seats,

The leads/trends stood at Mahayuti-21 and MVA racing ahead in 26 seats, besides one Independent.

With huge fluctuations, steep ups and downs, and wide and narrow margins, there may be many surprises in store in the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats.