Mumbai, May 31 : The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has predicted simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly with the likelihood of a "coalition government at the Centre" in 2024. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut both pointed to the probability of a combined elections in the state, while the Congress President Nana Patole and Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar have said that in such an eventuality, the MVA is "fully geared" to fight the polls unitedly. Raut went a step further to forecast that post-2024, the country will witness a return to the coalition-era politics, and challenged the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party regime to immediately announce the pending polls to various civic bodies in the state. "I challenge them to conduct the elections to 14 major civic bodies including Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and othersa it will make clear the claims of the ruling alliance on their strengtha" dared Raut. Reiterating that NCP President Sharad Pawar and Sena (UBT)'s former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will be attending the meeting of all major non-BJP Opposition parties in Patna on June 12, Raut said that the endeavour would be to field single candidates against the BJP in at least 400 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls, as proposed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram. Patil and Raut also feel that given the current political scenario in the state there is a strong likelihood of the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls -- due in October 2024 -- being held simultaneously. To the Sena (UBT)'s demand for holding the civic polls, ruling Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat threw the gauntlet back at Raut, challenging him to contest and win any election in the state. However, the leaders of the ruling alliance have dismissed the MVA contentions saying it is too early to speak on these things and ultimately all this (joint polls) will be decided by the Election Commission of India. Despite the continuous bickering among theAthree partners, the MVA leaders have reiterated that they will fight all the future elections together to save democracy and the Constitution. /IANS