Congress, Uddhav Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Party To Contest 85 Seats Each

The Shiv Sena faction of Uddhav Thackeray released a name of 65 candidates this evening, declaring that the seat-sharing for Maharashtra has been finalised. The contentious exercise had apparently concluded after weeks of hectic discussions. The outcome, Shiv Sena had said, was each of the three key allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi – the Sena UBT, Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) will contest 85 seats. 

This will take the total to 255 – the rest of the state’s 288 seats, 33, will go to the smaller allies of the MVA and some that may be divided between the big three – effectively indicating the formula was just a first draft.  

At the press conference held this evening, Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut and Congress’s Nana Patole made the announcement. 

“Sharad Pawar told us to go to the media and tell them that we have finalized the 85-85-85 formula. That leaves us with 270. Then the rest of the 18 seats will be given to the friends,” Sanjay Raut said. Nana Patole repeated the same message in Hindi. 

Later, when it was pointed out that the 85 formula adds up to 255 and not 270, Sena’s Anil Desai improvised: “We have to prepare for filling the form and AB form has to be given, so an agreement has been made on 85-85-85. The rest will be given to small friendly parties after some discussion. Whatever remains will be divided among us”.

The MVA allies, after a 6-plus-hour meet yesterday that ran past midnight, had resumed this morning, with veteran leader Sharad Pawar mediating between the Congress and Shiv Sena UBT, which had hit a deadlock over a handful of seats in Mumbai, Nashik and Vidarbha.