Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday announced that his party, the Nationalist Congress party, would allocate 10 percent of the seats it contests in the Assembly elections in the state slated to be held in November this year.
"I have decided to allocate 10 percent of the seats to minorities," Pawar said addressing a rally in Parli, Beed district, in what is possibly the first time that he has made such an announcement. The party, which contested 4 seats in the Lok Sabha elections as part of the Mahayuti alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena, did not field any candidates from the minority communities.
Of the 4 seats the NCP contested in the Lok Sabha elections, it could only manage to win one seat in the form of Sunil Tatkare, the party's Maharashtra unit president, from the Raigad seat.
The Mahayuti, which is yet to finalise its seat-sharing arrangement, is likely to see a tug-of-war between the constituents. While the NCP is learnt to have demanded 70-80 seats to contest in the 288-member Assembly, the BJP could restrict the number to 55-60, sources said. At a meeting with NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel in Mumbai last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is believed to have conveyed to its alliance partner that it would give them a "respectable" share of seats as part of the alliance.
The NCP, however, doesn't look willing to cede its claim, insisting time and again insisted that the seats it won in the 2019 Assembly polls (54 seats) would be its minimum benchmark during negotiations. However, the NCP contested the Assembly elections before Ajit Pawar engineered a split in the party and walked away with a majority of its MLAs.
“Of the 70-80 seats, we will allocate 10 per cent to minorities, which is 7-8 seats. Most of the seats are in Mumbai,” The Indian Express quoted an NCP leader as saying.
Notably, Ajit Pawar's minority outreach came on the heels of BJP leader and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis' "vote jihad" remark. Fadnavis had claimed that 'vote jihad' occurred in 14 out of 48 constituencies during the recent Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, attributing the BJP's loss in the Dhule constituency to this factor.
"Vote jihad was seen in Lok Sabha elections. In the Dhule constituency, the BJP candidate led with 1.90 lakh votes in five assembly seats. However, our candidate trailed by 1.94 lakh votes because of voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment, losing the election by just 4,000 votes," he said.
Fadnavis, who also handles the Home portfolio in the Maharashtra government, invoked the 'love jihad' controversy and claimed that over one lakh complaints had been filed involving Hindu women being lured into inter-faith marriages under false pretenses. "We have now observed that there have been more than one lakh complaints where Hindu women are lured into marriage by running away with men from different faiths," Fadnavis said at a public event in Kolhapur.
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar's statewide Jan Sanman Yatra reached Beed district on Wednesday. “I pray that Mahayuti gets the opportunity to serve this region,” Pawar said addressing a rally at the Mangalnath Maidan in the Majalgaon Assembly constituency.
The NCP, however, has taken a different stand and taken on BJP MLA Nitesh Rane on the issue of hate speech, asserting that it is a secular party. Pawar also expressed frustration over inflammatory comments targeting specific communities, hinting at the recent FIRs filed against Rane for alleged hate speech.
Speaking about the seat-sharing arrangement with the Mahayuti alliance partners, Pawar said that “seat-sharing hasn’t been finalised yet, but don’t worry, our constituency will remain with us”.
“I’ve decided to allocate 10 percent of the seats to minorities,” he added.
He also announced the government has announced a significant increase in the allowances for Home Guards across the state, benefiting around 40,000 personnel. The daily wage, which was Rs 570, will now be increased to Rs 1,080.
On the Maratha reservation issue, Pawar said that the government is actively working on the matter to ensure justice for everyone. “Our efforts are focussed on uplifting everyone,” Pawar added.
Elections in Maharashtra are scheduled to conclude before November 26, the last day of the term of the state Assembly. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce the Maharashtra Assembly election dates soon.
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