Maharashtra Elections 2024: Seat-sharing formulae still evade alliances

(From left) Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole, NCP-SP National President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) party chief Uddhav Thackeray. File Pic/Satej Shinde

It seems the exact seat-sharing formulae of the two major alliances will be known only at the end of the nomination process. Candidates whose names have already been announced, and those certain to get tickets, started filing nomination papers. Most of them did not miss an auspicious muhurat of Gurupushyamrut Yog on Thursday.

While the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) claimed to have sorted the sharing of seats on Wednesday, it emerged a day later that the dispute was still unresolved. A formula of 85 seats each for the three partners did not add up and created more confusion with conflicting claims made by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress. Both said they would cross the 100 mark.

CM Eknath Shinde (centre) along with Dy CMs Devendra Fadnavis (left) and Ajit Pawar. FILE PIC/PTI

One of the Sena negotiators, Sanjay Raut, expected that his party would hit a century. "We need a couple of sixes [to reach the target]," he said, adding that there could be last-minute changes to the list of all parties, depending on the merit. "There will be no statistical formula as such. What matters is winning potential [in the particular constituency]," stated Raut, informing that the list his party announced Wednesday was not final and would change.

On Wednesday, the MVA leaders had said that there was an agreement over 270 out of 288 seats, and the remaining 18 would be discussed later. However, when added up, the 85-seat formula left many more than 18 seats. Opposition leader in the Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, also one of the negotiators, said the Congress would get 100-105 seats. "The discussion is not over a particular figure, but merit. That's why the Congress's share would be more. What I can say looking at what has transpired is that the Congress will get 100-105 seats, and it will contest 42-43 seats in Vidarbha," he said, hoping that the party's first list of 54-55 would be released late Thursday and the rest by Friday.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar has maintained a stoic silence over seat sharing and gave its candidates, still officially unannounced, a nod to file their nominations. The party's state chief Jayant Patil and senior leaders Jitendra Awhad and Harshvardhan Patil were among others to submit their nominations on Thursday. Sena's Aaditya Thackeray (declared), Congress's Yashomati Thakur (undeclared, but certain) and some others went ahead in a rally with their respective supporters to the election office.

Mahayuti also stuck

Though it has taken a lead in announcing most candidates - 182 so far - the Mahayuti parties were struggling to resolve a dispute in some two dozen seats. CM Eknath Shinde hasn't scaled down his demand for more, and specific, seats. He was in Delhi, along with DyCMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on Thursday.

Insiders said there was a problem between Shinde Sena and BJP for some seats in MMR that both wanted. Some seats/candidates have been declared by both. It is said that the BJP is not willing to get down from the 155-160-mark. Ajit may settle for 55-60 seats, but Shinde is still unwilling to accept the second-highest numbers after the BJP.

However, there has been a positive development about exporting/importing candidates from each other. Things are not as rosy where there is more than one stakeholder in terms of parties and candidates. The only difference is that the MVA partners are more vocal about their disputes than their counterparts in the Mahayuti.