Assembly elections in Maharashtra are just a few months away. Meanwhile, state Deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday that the seat-sharing among the allies of the ruling coalition will be finalized soon. BJP’s Maharashtra unit president Chandrasekhar Bawankule also said that the formula of the ruling coalition has been finalized on seat sharing in around 70-80 percent i.e. around 288 assembly constituencies. Chandrasekhar Bawankule said that the Mahayutti agreement will be preceded by the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA). The Mahayuti grand alliance includes the BJP, Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Devendra Fadnavis told the media in Pune when asked about the seat sharing among the Mahayuti allies and its formal announcement, ‘The seat sharing formula will be finalized soon.’ Devendra Fadnavis did not give any other information about this. However, Chandrasekhar Bawankule claimed that the people will see the seat-sharing formula of the Mahayuti before the announcement of an agreement from MVA constituents Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and RCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar). Bawankule said that seat distribution has been finalized in about 70-80 percent constituencies.
Bawankule said that the outcome of a recent meeting between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Prafull Patel (NCP) was that the most important criterion was the candidate’s probability of victory. Meanwhile, Industries Minister Uday Samant, who is affiliated to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said that the three leaders of the alliance are well aware of the political situation in Maharashtra. The mistake of delaying the announcement of some candidates will not be repeated this time. Uday Samant said that we have finalized the seat sharing formula for more than 75 percent constituencies. However, cabinet minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said that he is not aware of the seat sharing formula among the three parties but we (NCP) have demanded around 80 seats to contest the elections. It is to be noted that in the current assembly BJP is the single largest party with 103 MLAs. , followed by Shiv Sena 40, RCP 41, Congress 40, Shiv Sena (UBT) 15, RCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar) 13 and others 29. Some seats are vacant. Maharashtra assembly elections are likely to be held in November.
