NDA discusses seat sharing in Maharashtra: BJP may contest 140-150 seats; Shiv Sena may get 80, Ajit Pawar may get 55 seats
Discussions have begun among NDA leaders regarding seat sharing for the assembly elections to be held in Maharashtra this year. According to sources, BJP may field candidates on 140-150 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state. There is talk of giving 80 seats to Shiv Sena Shinde faction, 55 to Ajit Pawar’s NCP and some seats to others.
In Maharashtra, NDA is in direct competition with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, MVA won 30 out of 48 seats. NDA got only 17 seats. MVA is preparing to repeat the same performance in the assembly elections.
NCP sources had said – Consensus reached on 173 seats The second round of the Mahayuti meeting was held in Nagpur on 31 August. NCP sources told news agency ANI that in this meeting that lasted for 3 hours, consensus was reached on 173 seats out of 288 in Maharashtra. It has been decided to give the maximum number of seats to BJP. After BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP will get seats.
CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare, NCP leader Praful Patel were present in this meeting.
Before the meeting, Ajit had said- We had won 54 seats in the 2019 elections. This time we have the support of three Congress MLAs and three independents, so our strength is increasing. We will demand 60 seats in this assembly election.
The term of the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) government will end in November 2024
- At present, there is a BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and NCP-Ajit Pawar coalition (Mahayuti) government in Maharashtra. Its term is ending in November 2024. Elections may be held in October 2024. Elections were held in 2019 for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. BJP became the largest party in the state with 106 MLAs.
- The Shiv Sena and BJP alliance could not reach a consensus on the post of Chief Minister. Shiv Sena with 56 MLAs formed the Mahavikas Aghadi government along with Congress with 44 MLAs and NCP with 53 MLAs. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray became the Chief Minister.
- May 2022 Urban Development Minister in the Maharashtra Government and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde rebelled along with 39 MLAs. They joined the BJP. On 30 June 2022, Eknath Shinde took oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
- With this, the Shiv Sena party split into two factions. One faction was formed by the Shinde faction and the other by the Uddhav faction. On February 17, 2023, the Election Commission ordered that the party’s name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s election symbol ‘bow and arrow’ will remain with the Eknath Shinde faction.
BJP got only 9 seats in Lok Sabha elections. In the last assembly elections held in 2019, BJP had won 104 seats. In the Lok Sabha elections 2024, BJP could win only 9 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra. Alliance partner NCP won one seat. Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) won 7 seats.
