Atharva Pandit
Moneycontrol News
As the Lok Sabha elections edge closer, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) stitch up their respective alliances, one of the major hurdles that both camps are facing has been particular seats across the country.
Political observers and party insiders have said the reasons why these seats are contested, and become a cause of contention between alliances differ according to states, but some of the factors remain constant, such as ego tussles, vote bank considerations and rivalries between individual leaders.
Here are some of the seats which were part of the talks both before and after alliances were announced and, in some cases, where alliances were being considered but were eventually not forged.
Palghar (Maharashtra)
The Palghar Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra played a major role during the seat-sharing talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena.
After the alliance was announced, News18 had reported that Sena had demanded Palghar Lok Sabha seat for itself, and it was one of the main pre-conditions put forth by the party for a tie-up.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis underlined the importance of the seat when he said a Sena candidate would be fielded from the region.
Moreover, after the seat was given to Sena, several leaders from Palghar BJP had started resigning in protest. A BJP source had told Moneycontrol that the Sena was adamant on its demand to rub it in BJP's face after the former's defeat in a high-decibel bypoll in May 2018 in Palghar.
Tumkur (Karnataka)
The Tumkur seat in Karnataka has reportedly been a bone of contention between the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in Karnataka.
Deccan Herald reported that Congress' Tumkur Member of Parliament (MP) Muddahanumegowda discussed the seat being conceded to JD(S) with senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also reportedly unhappy with the seat being given to JD(S). According to the report, Kharge has said he will discuss the arrangement with the party high command.
However, Tumkur is not the only seat that came in the way of the Congress-JD(S) seat-sharing talks. Seats like Uttara Kannada and Mandya, both with sitting Congress MPs and conceded to the JD(S), have also been hotly contested. In fact, Mandya has now turned into a prestige battle between the Congress-JD(S) combine and Kannada film star Ambareesh's widow Sumalatha. Ambareesh had represented the Mandya parliamentary seat thrice as a Congress candidate.
Ahmednagar (Maharashtra)
The Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency became a battleground of sorts recently with Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of Maharashtra Leader of Opposition (LoP) Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, switching to the BJP and Congress leaders in the state asking for Radhakrishna's resignation.
According to reports, Sujay's switch to the BJP was a result of an old family feud, and the tussle between Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over the Ahmednagar constituency.
Sujay was adamant about contesting from Ahmednagar, while the NCP wanted to field its own candidate in the seat. This was one of the reasons, according to reports, that the seat-sharing arrangement between Congress-NCP had been delayed. Senior Vikhe Patil had made an appeal to Pawar to consider Sujay as his grandson, but Ajit had announced that "there was no question of the NCP relinquishing the Ahmednagar seat to the Congress".
A Congress bastion for long, BJP's Dilip Kumar Gandhi won from Ahmednagar constituency in 2009, getting re-elected in 2014.
Karakat (Bihar)
The Karakat seat in Bihar has been one of the many factors stalling the Grand Alliance's seat-sharing pact in Bihar.
"Our leader represents the seat, there is no question of conceding it to anybody else," a Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader told Moneycontrol. The leader was referring to former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who switched to the Grand Alliance's ranks from the NDA camp and who is an MP from the seat.
The RLSP leader said Karakat, which has a mix of the Yadav, Rajput and Kushwaha population, is presenting a problem since even the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has been eyeing the seat and preparing to field its candidate from there. Both RLSP and RJD are a part of the Grand Alliance.
Godda (Jharkhand)
The Godda Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand, currently held by BJP's Nishikant Dubey, is reportedly being eyed by both the Congress and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), part of a grand opposition alliance in the state.
While the opposition alliance has reportedly announced seat-sharing arrangement, with the Congress contesting on seven seats, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on four, JVM on two and the RJD on one, both the JVM and Congress want to field a candidate from Godda.
According to reports, Congress is not willing to give the Godda seat to JVM since it considers the seat one of its strongholds.
Raiganj and Murshidabad (West Bengal)
The two seats in West Bengal, currently being held by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MPs, have presented a problem for the Congress and the CPM seat-sharing talks.
According to a report by the DNA newspaper, Congress' Deepa Dasmunshi wanted to contest from Raiganj, where CPM's Md Salim is the sitting MP. Dasmunshi will contest from the seat on a Congress ticket now, but without an alliance with the CPM.
The report states that Abu Hena of the Congress wanted to be in the fray from Murshidabad, represented by CPM's Badaruddoza Khan. However, the CPM refused the proposals, with CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty stating that the seat-sharing arrangement "will be for those seats where neither us nor Congress has sitting MPs".
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