MVA Allies Reach Consensus On 200 Out Of 280 Assembly Seats for Maharashtra Elections: Sharad Pawar

Image: ANI

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies have so far arrived at a consensus on 200 assembly seats in Maharashtra out of the total 288 for the next month's elections. Speaking to reporters at Karad in Maharashtra's Satara district, he said the results of Haryana polls, where the Congress suffered a drubbing at the hands of the BJP, will not have any bearing on the elections in Maharashtra.

"I am not directly involved in the seat-sharing discussions. (NCP-SP state unit chief) Jayant Patil is representing our party in the talks. As per the information he shared, an understanding has been reached on approximately 200 out of the total 288 seats," he said in response to a question.

Asked about which seats in Satara district that the NCP (SP) will demand, he said a decision on seat-sharing will be taken by Patil. Elections in Maharashtra will be held on November 20, while the counting of votes will take place on November 23.

The MVA, comprising the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) is fighting against the ruling Mahayuti alliance of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Ajit Pawar-helmed NCP. This is the first assembly election in the state after the Shiv Sena and NCP parties split in June 2022 and July 2023 respectively.

Responding to a query about the INDIA bloc's strategy after the Congress's defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, Pawar said the BJP was ruling that state and it managed to retain power.

"We are studying Haryana (results), but at the same time look at the results of Jammu and Kashmir (polls). I do not think that it (Haryana results) will have any bearing on the state's (Maharashtra's) elections. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the world community gives more attention to it and its poll results are more important for the country," he said.

In the October 5 Haryana polls, the BJP secured an unprecedented third term in the state, winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress won 37 seats. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took oath as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, heading the first elected government in the union territory since 2019 when its special status was revoked.

On reports of a new statue of the Lady of Justice unveiled at the Supreme Court, featuring open eyes replacing the traditional blindfold, and the Constitution in hand in place of a sword, the veteran leader said, "A new direction has been shown by the Chief Justice of India as this thought never occurred in this country."

Responding to a query on the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) not accepting the NCP (SP)'s request to freeze the trumpet symbol available in the free list of symbols, Pawar said that Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed them that the picture of their party symbol was not very clear, but now they have enlarged it and made its appearance clearer.

"So we can expect that it (the symbol) will not affect us," the former Union minister said. The NCP (SP) had requested the poll body to freeze the trumpet symbol from the list of available symbols as it is similar to the "man blowing turha" symbol formally allocated to the party. During the Lok Sabha elections, some Independent candidates were allotted the trumpet symbol by the ECI.

On the demand to project the MVA's CM face, he said the issue has been resolved among the three constituents - Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) - as it was clarified during a joint press conference where Uddhav Thackeray was present along with him.

On Wednesday, Pawar hinted at a bigger role for Jayant Patil. When asked about it, the NCP (SP) chief said Patil has a big responsibility as he is the state president of the party.