Maharashtra Assembly Elections: Did Mahayuti Crack Seat-Sharing Deal At Late-Night Meeting?

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra has finalised a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Assembly elections. Here's what the BJP, NCP, and Shiv Sena agreed to at a late-night meeting.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti seems to have finalised a seat-sharing formula for the Maharashtra Assembly elections after a long late-night meeting at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's home. The meeting ended around 2 AM.

Sources aware of the development said the three constituent parties of the Mahayuti — BJP, Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar), and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) — were earlier in agreement over 240 seats. The late-night meeting mainly focused on the remaining 48 seats. The parleys were held in the presence of Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda and a formula was agreed upon.

If the sources are to be believed, the seat-sharing formula and who will contest which seat was decided in the meeting that continued for about four hours. The announcement of the seats is likely to be made by the Mahayuti by Sunday at a joint press conference of the parties.

The three parties have also agreed that the seats on which a party has anti-incumbency should be handed over to an ally to mitigate any negative impact. As per the decision taken at the meeting, the BJP may contest around 151 seats, while Shiv Sena is likely to vie for 84, leaving 53 seats for the NCP.

Earlier, Ajit Pawar's NCP had reportedly demanded at least 80 seats, but the BJP was willing to cede fewer than 50 seats. Ajit Pawar, himself had been saying that he would opt out of the assembly polls, but his stance changed last week as he said that he would contest the Baramati seat if the party wanted him to. Whether the NCP has been allotted the Baramti seat under the Mahayuti's seat-sharing formula will be clear after the formal announcement.

Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has finalised agreements on 258 seats. However, the rest of the 30 seats are still being discussed. The MVA comprises of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), and the NCP (Sharad Pawar). Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party is reportedly in discussion with the MVA for an alliance for the Maharashtra Elections. However, the SP has already announced four candidates. The four parties are already party of the INDIA bloc at the national level.