Maharashtra Polls: Congress, Pawar Struggle to Reach an Agreement with Uddhav
Negotiations are intense ahead of Maharashtra's important assembly elections. Uddhav Thackeray, the former chief minister, recently visited Delhi to hold talks with Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Sharad Pawar.
Building on the momentum from the general elections, the opposition alliance, MVA/INDIA, comprising the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray, or 'UBT'), and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), seeks to challenge the Mahayuti/National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which is made up of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), and the NCP (Ajit Pawar), by taking advantage of perceived anti-incumbency sentiment.
In 2024, the Shiv Sena (UBT) ran for 21 seats in the general elections, the Congress for 17, and the NCP (SP) for 10. With only nine of the 21 seats (43%), the Shiv Sena (UBT) had the lowest strike rate; in contrast, the Congress and NCP (SP) had strike rates of 76% and 80%, respectively, and won 13 and eight seats.
The Congress and NCP (SP) are worried that the Shiv Sena (UBT) was given more seats than necessary as a result of this discrepancy, and they believe that seat-sharing in the assembly elections shouldn't be based on this.
In the upcoming assembly polls, the Shiv Sena (UBT) hopes to run for the most seats possible. The Congress also wants to run for the most seats, claiming that splits have weakened the Sena and the NCP and that their support bases have changed.
In the 2019 elections, the pre-split Shiv Sena ran 126 seats in coalition with the BJP, the Congress contested 147 seats, and the NCP (pre-split) contested 121 seats as part of the UPA.
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