Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which includes Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT), has formed a nine members committee to finalize its seat-sharing formula for Lok Sabha in Maharashtra. Three members from each constituent are on the committee including former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Anil Deshmukh.
A senior Congress leader said that the party expects more seats than its alliance partners as the Congress party is strong in the state. However, they would compromise on equal seat distribution in Maharashtra during the negotiation. The discussion will be held on the names of the constituencies and which party would contest on which seat.
Though Congress won only a single seat in 2019, it is now demanding 16 seats considering the vertical splits in Shiv Sena and NCP.
Leaders of INDIA alliance in their two day meeting in Mumbai on September 1, have decided to form a committee in each state to work out on the seat sharing formula with the help of their state leaders. Accordingly, the seat-sharing formula will be shared with the 14-member coordination committee of INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc.
According to the sources, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, where he gave names of his party members Nasim Khan, Prithviraj Chavan and Basavraj Patil to him. Mr. Patole also asked Mr. Thackeray to form the coordination committee soon so that seats would be finalized soon.
The senior Congress leader said that the party is going to hold a region wise meeting from October 7 to October 12. Post this, a meeting of the coordination committee will be held over seat sharing formula. “As per the strength of the party in a particular constituency, the seat will be distributed among us,” he said.
A senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said that Sanjay Raut, Vinayak Raut, and Anil Desai from the Sena (UBT) and Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh from Sharad Pawar-led NCP will be part of this nine member committee.
