The first phase of Maharashtra’s election riot is over. The deadline for filing nominations for all 288 seats in the state has ended. After filing of nomination, the seat sharing dispute between the two alliances has also been completely resolved. In Maharashtra, Congress is contesting the maximum number of seats on behalf of NDA and BJP and India alliance.
However, the question is about Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar, Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray. Due to divisions in parties, these 4 leaders were at the center of Maharashtra politics in the last 5 years.
Senior Pawar managed to win 88 seats
Sharad Pawar’s united NCP had last contested elections on 125 seats. In 2023, there was a split in the party and nephew Ajit along with big leaders joined NDA. Sharad Pawar got 9 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Assembly wise, Sharad’s party was supposed to get only around 55 seats this time, but Sharad Pawar has wrested 88 seats from the India alliance.
Sharad Pawar’s party has so far fielded candidates on 88 seats. Most of these seats are from where NCP had contested elections in 2019. How Sharad Pawar managed to get 88 seats remains a topic of political discussion.
Pawar has got most of the seats in Western Maharashtra and Marathwada. This is called Pawar’s stronghold.
Ajit, who rebelled a lot, was limited to less than 60.
Ajit Pawar had staged a big rebellion in 2023. Along with 42 MLAs, Ajit had taken all the big leaders of NCP into his fold. Ajit’s stake in NDA was considered big, but he got less than 60 seats to contest.
Along with setting-gating, Ajit got a chance to contest only on those seats where he had strong candidates. However, most of Ajit’s candidates are contesting against uncle Sharad’s candidate.
Uddhav Thackeray defeated Eknath Shinde
Shiv Sena split in 2022. One group is with Eknath Shinde and the other group is with Uddhav Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray group is in the electoral fray in alliance with Congress and Sharad Pawar. On the other hand, Eknath Shinde’s alliance is with BJP and Ajit Pawar.
Uddhav Thackeray has won over Eknath Shinde in seat sharing. Uddhav faction has so far fielded candidates on 85 seats. The group has a strategy to field candidates on 95 seats.
Uddhav has also fielded candidates on those seats where Congress was strong last time. These include Bandra East, Ramtek and Nashik West seats.
On the other hand, Shinde has got a chance to contest on less than 80 seats. Shinde faction has got a chance to contest on most of the seats in Mumbai and Thane-Konkan. In 2019, United Shiv Sena had fielded candidates on 124 seats.
BJP and Congress suffer loss in seat sharing
Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have suffered loss in seat sharing. In 2019, BJP had fielded candidates on 152 seats. This time the party has fielded candidates on 148 seats. Along with BJP, its smaller parties have also suffered losses.
RPI (Athawale) got to contest on 6 seats last time. This time he has got a chance to contest on only 1 seat. Congress has also suffered losses in seat sharing. This time Congress has fielded candidates on 102 seats.
It is being said that the party wants some more seats, but now the chances of its demand being fulfilled in the alliance are less. In 2019, the Congress Party had fielded candidates on 125 seats. However, it won only 44 seats.
Elections on 288 seats on 20th November, results on 23rd
Elections are proposed for all 288 seats of Maharashtra Assembly on November 20. The results of these seats will come on 23 November. This time in Maharashtra, the big fight is between NDA (BJP, Shiv Sena-Shinde and NCP-Ajit) and India (Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and NCP-Sharad).
145 MLAs are required to form the government in the state. In 2019, BJP became the largest party by winning 105 seats. Congress had won the least 44 seats. Shiv Sena won 56 seats and NCP won 54 seats.
