Slicing Up The Poll Pie: MVA May Meet on Tuesday with Focus on Lok Sabha Seat-sharing

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According to sources, a discussion on 37 seats happened in the previous meeting with the approval of the three constituents. Based on that, eight seats of the Marathwada region will be distributed as per the 4-3-1 formula, in which the Shiv Sena (UBT) is likely to contest four seats, the Congress three, and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP one

A crucial meeting of Maharashtra’s opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is likely to take place in Mumbai on January 30, with the focus expected to be on a seat-sharing agreement for the state’s 48 Lok Sabha constituencies. According to sources, a discussion on 37 seats happened in the previous meeting with the approval of the three constituents. Based on that, eight seats of the Marathwada region will be distributed as per the 4-3-1 formula, in which the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is likely to contest four seats, the Congress three, and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one.

However, all three parties are claiming the Hingoli Lok Sabha seat, which is right now with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. According to the sources, this will be discussed in Tuesday’s meeting and a final decision made. They also indicated that the eight seats in the Marathwada region will be distributed based on who fared well in them in 2019.

In 2019, the Congress and NCP couldn’t win a single seat in the region. Shiv Sena (UBT) holds the Parbhani and Dharashiv seats in Marathwada. So, this time it is almost certain that the party will contest these two seats along with two others. Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, previously known as Aurangabad, was considered to be the bastion of the Shiv Sena with party leader Chandrakant Khaire winning here from 1999 to 2014. In 2019, he was defeated by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Imtiyaz Jaleel and ended up in second place.

A source who is aware of the seat-sharing talks also said that the Congress wants to exchange the Jalna seat with Uddhav’s Shiv Sena for Hingoli. The reason is that for the past 30 years, the Congress has been losing the Jalna seat by big margins and Shiv Sena (UBT) doesn’t have a strong candidate for the Hingoli seat. The Congress is ready to contest in Nanded and Latur, and if talks fail then it may field a candidate in Hingoli too, said the source.

The NCP had always claimed that Sharad Pawar had a huge influence in Marathwada. But after the recent split in the party with Ajit Pawar shifting his camp to the ruling side, Sharad Pawar’s NCP is likely to get only one seat in this region. While it is pushing for the Hingoli seat as well, sources said, the party may have to settle for only Beed.