MUMBAI: Ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance finalised its seat-sharing arrangement on Wednesday.
According to the agreement, the three major coalition partners -- Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction), and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) -- will each contest 85 seats in the 288-member state assembly.
The remaining seats will be distributed among MVA alliance partners and smaller allies.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that MVA leaders, including Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) state president Jayant Patil, and other leaders, met Sharad Pawar and it was decided that the resolved seats among the MVA partners should be declared first, while the disputed seats would be settled later.
Raut clarified that all three major MVA partners—Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP)—would get an equal number of seats, 85 each, while the remaining 33 seats would be distributed among the alliance’s smaller allies.
"We have finalised 255 seats out of the 288-member state assembly, and the allocation of the remaining 33 seats will also be done soon. I just want to emphasise that there are no differences within the MVA. Everything has been resolved amicably and in a friendly manner. The alliance partners will soon announce candidates for the finalised seats," Raut said.
Interestingly, amid disputes over seat sharing, Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its claim over 65 seats, even though some are still disputed. Smaller allies of the MVA, like the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), have laid claim to certain seats, such as Sangola. When asked about discrepancies in the party’s list, Raut said corrections would be made.
"We are committed to accommodating smaller allies as well. We will meet with them on Thursday to resolve the seat-sharing issue for the remaining seats. Some seat-swapping will also occur amicably. No one should raise concerns about the MVA's late announcement of seat sharing," Raut added.
Earlier, Raut had stated that Shiv Sena (UBT) would not contest fewer than 100 seats in the state elections. However, the Congress party refused to cede more seats to Shiv Sena (UBT), leading to a deadlock, particularly between Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress.