Opposition alliance in Maharashtra finalises seat-sharing deal for LS polls: Report

In a move that may spur disparate INDIA bloc partners to come closer in coming days, the constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), including Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), have finalised a seat-sharing deal in Maharashtra.

According to NDTV, quoting unnamed sources, the deal may be announced anytime soon by the alliance partners. The deal came through after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intervened and approached Pawar.

Seat-sharing arrangement

Of the 48 parliamentary seats, the major share goes to Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress with 20 and 18 seats respectively, whereas the Sharad Pawar-led NCP will contest in 10 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) will give 2 seats to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), a regional outfit led by Prakash Ambedkar, which joined the alliance in January.

The seat-sharing agreement for 39 constituencies had been finalised last week, according to news reports, but there was some disagreement over Mumbai's South Central and North West, which both Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress wanted. Shive Sena (UBT) may now contest four of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai. One of the seats may go to VBA.

Big step

Earlier, the partners of the INDIA bloc were not making any headway in finalising seat-sharing deals. After months of bickering, the INDIA bloc led by the Congress managed to seal seat sharing arrangements with Samajwadi Party in UP and then closed a deal with the AAP in Delhi. 

The momentum has now started to build up with seat-sharing talks in Maharashtra too having been clinched, according to news reports. This is a big step forward for the INDIA bloc, as the Lok Sabha polls is barely a month away. 

The alliance, which was launched in June last year with much fanfare, was formed to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP in the coming general elections. However, the Congress whose political fortunes at the hustings have been dwindling, has been pushed by regional parties to corner more seats for themselves.

2019 elections

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP dominated the scene in Maharashtra losing only three seats out of the 25 it contested.

The undivided Shiv Sena, then a BJP partner, had secured 18 seats out of 23. The grand old party was reduced to just one MP, while the undivided NCP returned only 4 of its candidates to Parliament.