Maharashtra BJP against simultaneous polls in 2019, say leaders

The issue was discussed at a recent meeting between BJP chief Amit Shah and Maharashtra leaders where the view of the state party unit was put forth, said the leaders who requested anonymity.

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MUMBAI: The Maharashtra BJP is understood to be against simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly next year, according to some state party leaders.

The issue was discussed at a recent meeting between BJP chief Amit Shah and Maharashtra leaders where the view of the state party unit was put forth, said the leaders who requested anonymity.

A leader claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too is opposed to simultaneous elections and has conveyed this to Shah.

"If Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are held together, there may be a compounded backlash from unhappy voters. If Lok Sabha elections are held first, we can do some damage control before the Assembly elections (later) next year," he said.

"If Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are held separately, we can learn lessons from Lok Sabha's verdict and can plan accordingly for the Assembly polls," he added.

The Lok Sabha polls are to be held by May next year while the tenure of the Maharashtra Assembly is till October next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah have been favouring simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies across the country.

The state unit is also inclined to take the disgruntled ally Shiv Sena on board while contesting the two elections.

"There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, of which BJP won 22 last time, followed by Sena which won 18. If we want to maintain the tally in 2019, Sena's support is valuable for consolidation of votes," said another BJP leader.

"If we insist on holding Lok Sabha and assembly polls jointly in Maharashtra, Sena will most probably contest separately and it could be a major setback, because Congress and NCP have joined hands," he said.

In that case, he said, the votes of the Congress and NCP will get consolidated while "ours will get divided. We must avoid it."

While the Central leadership of the BJP is not much keen on continuing the alliance with the Sena, the state leaders want to take the Uddhav Thackeray-led party along at least for the Lok Sabha elections, he claimed.

The BJP lost Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha by-election in Maharashtra earlier this year, indicating that rural population was not happy, the leader said.