Maharashtra Polls: Mahayuti to seal seat-sharing pact? All eyes on key meet

Maharashtra Polls: With the Maharashtra Assembly Elections just a month away, Mahayuti leaders, including Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar, and Devendra Fadnavis, are likely to meet Amit Shah today, October 16, a report by News18 stated. The report said the talks on seat sharing are expected to be held.
1. The BJP Central Election Committee meeting will be held today in the national capital. The meeting is aimed at discussing the names of candidates for Maharashtra assembly polls.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goel, Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state president Chandrasekhar Bawankule, and other state and CEC members are expected to attend the meeting.
3. While speaking to ANI, BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Today there is a Central Election Committee meeting, in which there will be discussions on our sitting seat of BJP. I think that most of the seats in our party are settled. Right now there is not much left, very little is left and it is negligible. We have our seats, Eknath ji has his seats and Ajit dada has his seats. First of all, we will have to decide on those sitting seats, later we will have to decide on the remaining seats.”
4. He further added, “We have learned a few things after losing the elections (Lok Sabha). We could not understand the lies that the Congress party spread. Confusion was created among the public. That is why we could not stop the local narrative. We kept fighting the elections, saying that Modi ji has resolved to develop India…We kept asking for votes for a developed India, and the Congress party kept lying. That is why we could not catch their narrative in the elections.”
5. Earlier, the state president had said that Chief Minister Shinde should be willing to make “sacrifices” in terms of seat-sharing for the assembly polls, like the BJP has done to keep the alliance intact. While speaking to ABP Majha news channel in Nagpur, he said, “Chief Minister Eknath Shinde must remain open-minded and be willing to make sacrifices. We, too, have made sacrifices to uphold the alliance. It is evident that the BJP aims to contest the seats we previously held.”
6. The Maharashtra election is expected to witness a two-way fight between the ruling Mahayuti Alliance of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP,) Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde and NCP-Ajit Pawar and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, of the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP – Sharad Pawar and the Congress.
7. Speaking on seat sharing, Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan said, “Seat sharing will keep happening; it will not be completed in 1-2 days. There are three parties in the alliance, and we also have other friends in the alliance. This is a continuous process; it is not possible that all the sharing will be done on the first day. There are no differences between us; there is no fight for the post of Chief Minister like Maha Vikas Aghadi. Our three leaders have also said that we are together and will fight the elections together.”
8. Republican Party of India (Athawale), Dr Ramdas Athawale said, “I have written to Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Devendra Fadnavis demanding 21 seats. We should get 8-10 seats. Devendra Fadnavis has said they will give some seats to the Republican Party. We have demanded that we also get a minister berth when the government is formed. We will stay with Mahayuti. No matter how hard Maha Vikas Aghadi tries, Mahayuti is stronger in Maharashtra…,” as quoted by news agency ANI.
9. The Congress-NCP(SP)-SS (UBT) alliance of MVA had won 31 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections, while the Congress only won 5 out of 10 seats in Haryana. The Congress had won 44 seats in 2019 assembly polls in Maharashtra, but seven MLAs have resigned.
10. The term of Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26. Maharashtra has 288 and a total of 9.63 crore people are eligible to vote in the state.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)