India, June 19 -- Six of nine Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday skipped a scheduled party meeting in the Parliament premises, conforming their crossover to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena. The MPs who skipped the meeting included Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure.

Sources said all six dissident MPs have signed a letter seeking a merger with the Shinde-led Sena and submitted it to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The process, however, is not yet complete, as the speaker's office is understood to require the physical appearance of some of the MPs for verification and that is "expected to happen in the coming days".

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