Following the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, and the Congress formed an alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi, despite ideological differences.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra has reportedly cemented a seat-sharing deal as part of the broader strategy within the INDIA bloc”s efforts to challenge the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections. An official announcement is expected soon.
According to sources, the Shiv Sena faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will contest 20 out of the state”s 48 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar will vie for 18 and 10 seats respectively.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, a regional party which initially sought five seats, will be allocated two from the Shiv Sena”s quota, and an independent candidate, Raju Shetty, will receive support from Pawar”s NCP faction, sources said.
Shiv Sena will likely contest four out of six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, with the possibility of one seat, likely Mumbai North East, being allotted to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.
Following the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, and the Congress formed an alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi, despite ideological differences. The MVA formed the government with Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister. The MVA now consists of Congress, NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.
In the 2019 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena, then allied with the BJP, contested 23 seats and won 18, including key constituencies like Mumbai South Central and North West. The Congress contested 25 seats but managed to win only one, while the NCP, also part of the alliance then, contested 19 seats and secured four. The BJP emerged as the dominant force, winning 23 out of the 25 seats it contested. However, shortly after the state polls, Uddhav Thackeray’s party terminated its 25-year alliance with the BJP due to disagreements over power-sharing terms.
The subsequent split within the Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, with Eknath Shinde’s faction forming a new government with the BJP. Later, Sharad Pawar’s NCP faced a similar split when Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP coalition government. This time around, the BJP is set to receive support from dissident factions of the Shiv Sena and NCP.
The agreement marks a significant advancement for the Congress-led INDIA bloc, which was formed in June last year with the goal of defeating the BJP. The Congress has managed to strike agreements with parties like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, Haryana and other key regions. Many view the recent victory of the Congress-AAP alliance in the Chandigarh mayoral election as a turning point.
However, in West Bengal, talks between Mamata Banerjee”s Trinamool Congress and the Congress collapsed after the latter persisted with its demand for just two seats, the ones that Congress won in the previous elections.
