Maharashtra Assembly polls: MVA initiates seat-sharing talks for elections; Shiv Sena eyes 20 seats, says report

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has initiated talks on a possible seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming state assembly elections, starting with Mumbai.

At a meeting on Saturday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) The Congress party has asked for 20 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party for 15 and the Nationalist Congress Party for seven. The parties are expected to finalise the seat-sharing agreement at a meeting scheduled for next week. Hindustan Times reported.

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In the 2019 Assembly elections, the three parties won 20 of Mumbai’s 36 seats, so the debate will be on the sharing of the remaining 16 seats. The undivided Shiv Sena won 14 seats, the Congress could win four and the undivided NCP and the undivided Samajwadi Party won one seat each.

Following the split between the Shiv Sena and the NCP over the past two years, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction has the support of eight MPs. In contrast, the NCP-SP has none as Nawab Malik, elected from Anushakti Nagar, sided with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

Hindustan Times According to MVA sources, the Shiv Sena (UBT) is determined to win 20 seats. “The party believes that we are in a much better position than our allies and hence we should get a majority of the 36 city assembly seats,” said a senior leader of Thackeray’s faction.

“Shiv Sena seeks to contest all 14 seats [it won in 2019] except Chandivali, who is willing to swap with Congress’s Vandre East,” an MVA source said. high.

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Earlier, when asked about the MVA CM’s face for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, NCP-SCP leader Sharad Pawar He said, “As far as my party is concerned, no one from my party is interested. We are not projecting anyone (as CM). We just want a change in government here because we want to give good governance to the state. So, who will be CM or not is not a question for me. At least it won’t be me.”

Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said that the expiry date of Maha Vikas Aghadi is near and the seat sharing in the upcoming Assembly elections will be broken, ANI reported.

Shelar also mentioned that the MVA will be disbanded after the elections. All three parties (Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SCP) are contesting for the CM post.

He said, “The expiry date of the Maha Vikas Aghadi is near. This is most likely to break down over the seat-sharing issue, and if they somehow maintain it through seat-sharing, this is sure to break down immediately after the elections as all three parties are there for the CM post.”

The report notes that Thackeray is considering fielding Varun Sardesai, secretary of Yuva Sena and Thackeray’s nephew, from Vandre East. This seat was earlier won by Congress MP Zeeshan Siddique, who is expected to join the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Congress leaders have expressed optimism about the possible swap, pointing out that the party narrowly lost the Chandivali seat by just 409 votes, where Arif Naseem Khan was the candidate.

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“Naseem Khan represented the seat twice before 2019 and is eager to contest again,” said a party leader from Mumbai.

“Today we discussed the possible criteria for the seat allocation formula. Basically, it is about who won the seat, how many times and the candidate’s potential,” said a senior MVA leader, adding: “All three parties want the seats they have won in the previous elections.”

Maharashtra Assembly elections are due this year. The Election Commission has not yet announced the dates of the elections.

(With contributions from agencies)