Maharashtra Elections: Mahayuti seat-sharing talks underway, BJP stakes claim on 150 seats

The ruling alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena (Balasaheb) and the NCP are currently negotiating a seat-sharing agreement. (File Photo: PTI)

Amid ongoing seat-sharing talks between the constituents of Maharashtra’s ruling alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party is learnt to have conveyed to its alliance partners that it will contest 140-150 of the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra. The saffron party contested 152 seats in the 2019 Assembly polls and won 105.

As per the details available so far, the BJP is likely to offer the Shiv Sena 75-80 seats while the NCP may get 55-60 seats to field its candidates from. Three seats are learnt to have been kept aside for smaller alliance partners, reports NDTV, citing BJP sources.

The development comes two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Mahayuti leaders Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Ajit Pawar (NCP) and Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP in Mumbai and assured the alliance partners that the BJP would offer them a respectable number of seats for the polls in the state.

The meeting came in the backdrop of public spats between leaders of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. Shah is believed to have told the alliance leaders that the acrimony within the ruling alliance could prove detrimental to the prospects of the Mahayuti in polls slated to be held later this year.

At the meeting, Shah asked Mahayuti partners, particularly the NCP and Shiv Sena, to maintain unity and decorum to ensure that leaders from either side do not speak ill of any other leader of the alliance. The warning of sorts came days after the distrust between the alliance partners spilled over into the public, causing an embarrassment for the ruling alliance.

“We were reassured that all the Mahayuti constituents will get a respectful number of seats, and that any issues would be addressed adequately,” NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said after the meeting with Shah at the Mumbai airport in the wee hours on Monday.

While the Mahayuti may have arrived at a broad consensus on the alliance, working out the nitty-gritties is easier said than done. The Shiv Sena and the NCP had earlier opposed the BJP’s proposal to contest 150-160 seats, leaving just 128-138 seats for them.

The Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, for instance, was reported to have sought 85-90 seats. It recently said that it needs 100 seats to contest in the 288-strong Assembly.

Similarly, the NCP which was earlier believed to have sought 60 seats to contest, said last week it wanted to contest in 70-80 seats. Ajit Pawar recently said in an interview with The Indian Express that the NCP would contest in “more than 60 seats” since it is the number of seats it currently holds in the state Assembly.

Tatkare later clarified that Pawar meant that the cadre should begin preparations to contest from 60 seats since the alliance partners had agreed that the parties would contest seats currently held by them. “For the rest of the seats, the discussions are on,” he said last week.

The BJP’s insistence on contesting around 150 seats is believed to be at the heart of this lack of consensus ahead of the crucial election where the Mahayuti will face the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar).

The Lok Sabha elections earlier this year saw the ruling alliance win only 17 of the 48 seats while the Opposition MVA bagged 30. The BJP won just nine of the 28 seats it contested, with the Shiv Sena winning seven of 15 seats and the NCP one of three.

Maharashtra is expected to witness an intense battle as the BJP, Congress and the split units of the Shiv Sena and the NCP face off against each other in what is expected to be a high-pitched battle. The NDA of the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena emerged as the clear winner in the 2019 polls.

However, the Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP and formed a government with the support of the undivided NCP and Congress. Two years later, Eknath Shinde led a rebellion within the Sena that resulted in the demise of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

Ajit Pawar followed suit soon after and engineered a split in the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and joined the Mahayuti government of the BJP and the Shiv Sena (Shinde).

Elections in Maharashtra are expected to be held in November this year.