BJP-Shiv Sena seat sharing: The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena have finally sealed the seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Reports claimed that while BJP will get a lion’s share of 144 seats, Shiv Sena will field its candidates on 126 seats. Other smaller parties of the alliance will get 18 of the total 288 seats.
According to sources, as per the deal, Shiv Sena has also succeeded in getting the deputy chief minister post in its kitty. The official announcement regarding the seat-sharing decision is likely to be made during a joint press conference by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on September 29, News18 reported.
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The seat-sharing formula was finalised during a top-level meeting on Thursday which was chaired by BJP president Amit Shah. Party’s working president JP Nadda, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and other senior leaders also attended the meeting.
The tussle between the BJP and Shiv Sena over the seat-sharing had been continuing for several days, which the latter even describing the process more complex than India-Pakistan partition. “Maharashtra is so huge. This division of 288 seats is more difficult than the partition of India and Pakistan,” senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said earlier this week.
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In 2014, when both the parties contested the Assembly polls separately, the BJP had won 122 seats and Shiv Sena 63. Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled to be held on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24