MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick-start their joint election campaign in the State from the historic Mahalaxmi temple on March 24. 

CM Fadnavis and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray met on Tuesday to plan the poll strategy, where they finalised the venue and dates of campaigning.  

Thackeray and Fadnavis met at Thackeray’s residence, Matoshree, late on Tuesday night where they had discussions about the scheduled meetings between PM Modi and Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP have decided to contest the election jointly and will contest in all the 48 seats in the State, of which BJP is contesting 25, while Shiv Sena is fielding candidates in 23 seats. 

Meanwhile, the Sena and the BJP had decided on joint meetings with both parties’ activists in the region. 

On March 15, there will be joint meetings at Amravati (West Vidarbha) and Nagpur (for East Vidarbha), on March 17 meeting will be at Nashik (for North Maharashtra) and Aurangabad (for Marathwada). On March 18 there will be a meeting in Pune (for Western Maharashtra) and at Navi Mumbai (for Kokan).