Suspense over Mahayuti seat-sharing deal continues. BJP to get 150 seats?

Maharashtra assembly election: The Mahayuti alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena (led by Eknath Shinde), and NCP (led by Ajit Pawar), is currently negotiating seat-sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election. A report by NDTV, citing unnamed sources, claimed that the BJP might contest around 140 to 150 seats, while the Shiv Sena could contest 80 seats, and the NCP may vie for 55 seats. Three seats have been reserved for smaller allies.
The developments comes even as Union home minister Amit Shah held a meeting with the top leaders of all three parties and promised each one a respectable number of seats in the coming assembly election. Amit Shah also told them to avoid public confrontation and put up a united show.
HT has earlier reported that the BJP was insistence on contesting between 150 and 160 seats. In the event of this happening, only 128 to 138 seats will be left for the other two parties, a scenario which is unacceptable to the Shiv Sena and NCP.
This alliance will face the Maha Vikas Aghadi, an Opposition coalition made up of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi won 30 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, outperforming the Mahayuti, which secured 17 seats.
In the 2019 Maharashtra elections, the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena achieved a decisive victory, but later split over a leadership dispute, with Uddhav Thackeray forming a government with Congress and NCP. In 2022, a rebellion by Eknath Shinde resulted in the fall of Thackeray’s government, leading Shinde to form an alliance with the BJP.
BJP insiders told HT that the party was planning to contest around 160 seats, and give approximately 60 seats to Ajit Pawar and 70 seats to the Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde. “In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP fought approximately 160 seats and won 105,” said a senior BJP leader. “So we will have to fight around 160 seats in the upcoming elections to win more than 100.”
“While discussing the seat-sharing issue, it was made clear that the distribution would be respectful. Amit Shah assured everyone of personal intervention whenever required,” confirmed Sunil Tatkare, state NCP president.
The NCP had two meetings with Amit Shah on Monday. The first meeting was held between Amit Shah, Eknath Shinde, and deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at Mumbai Airport. The subject of discussion was schemes and their allocation of funds to the parties, files and proposals that were not getting approvals and pending funds from the Centre.
In another meeting, the top leaders from the ruling parties discussed issues such as seat-sharing and internal conflicts. In this meeting, Shah expressed his displeasure at the attack by Shiv Sena ministers on the NCP.