Mahayuti Seat-Sharing: The constituent parties of Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance, namely the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, were deliberating on the seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Assembly election in the state on Tuesday, NDTV reported. The BJP will probably field candidates on 140 to 150 of the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, sources cited by the news outlet said. They further said the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena was likely to contest 80 seats.
Moreover, the report put the number of seats likely to be alloted to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP at 55. Three seats will reportedly be set aside for smaller allies. Earlier, reports indicated that Maharashtra BJP leaders are quite adamant on getting at least 160 seats. This would leave the remaining 128 seats for distribution among the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), the NCP (Ajit Pawar) and other smaller Mahayuti partners.
However, it is learnt that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, in the wake of its strike rate in the Lok Sabha election, wherein it won 7 of the 15 seats it contested, is insisting that the party be allotted no less than 100 seats. On the other hand, NCP leaders were reportedly making a case for getting 90 seats, a figure the party was purportedly promised at the time of shifting allegiance to the saffron camp last year.
The Mahayuti alliance, a subset of the country's ruling NDA, is up against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Opposition bloc, which comprises the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), and the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar. In the Lok Sabha election held earlier this year, the MVA made a spectacular stride by winning 30 out of the 48 parliamentary seats spread across Maharashtra.
(With inputs from agencies)