There is still no consensus on seat sharing among the allies of the ruling Mahayuti alliance for the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Apart from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Mahayuti includes Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The alliance partners are currently in talks on seat sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
An NDTV report citing unnamed sources claimed that the BJP may contest around 140 to 150 seats, while the Shiv Sena may contest 80 seats, and the NCP may contest 55 seats. Three seats have been reserved for smaller allies. Assembly elections in Maharashtra may be held in October-November.
This development comes at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with top leaders of the three parties and promised a respectable number of seats to all three in the upcoming assembly elections. Amit Shah also asked them to avoid public confrontation and work unitedly.
HT had earlier reported that the BJP is adamant on contesting 150 to 160 seats. If this happens, only 128 to 138 seats will be left for the other two parties, which is seen as unacceptable for the Shiv Sena and NCP. This alliance will face the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an opposition coalition made up of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi won 30 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, while the Mahayuti secured 17 seats.
On September 1, BJP’s Maharashtra unit president Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said, “Talks on seat sharing in the Mahayuti will be completed in 10 days. We have decided that seats will be allocated on the basis of winning probability. We will leave some seats for our allies. It is not important how many seats each party contests. It will be important to form a double-engine government to ensure that welfare schemes continue.”