MVA to finalize seat sharing for Maharashtra polls by next month, elective merit to be key criteria

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) The Maha Vikas Aghadi will select the candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections purely on elective merit and not on past performance at a time the state is in the throes of protests over reservation for Maratha and OBC communities, opposition alliance sources said.

The seat sharing arrangement for the MVA alliance would be in place by early next month, sources said and did not rule out the possibility of alliance partners swapping some seats among themselves.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had emerged as the best performer in Maharashtra among the MVA alliance, winning 13 seats out of the 17 it had contested, followed by the Shiv Sena-UBT (9) and NCP-SP (8). A Congress rebel, who contested as an Independent against the Shiv Sena-UBT and won from Sangli, has aligned with the MVA.

The opposition alliance MVA won 31 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, delivering a setback to the BJP-led NDA which was hoping to win 45 of the 48 seats.

The seat-sharing talks gained momentum as Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray held separate meetings with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and NCP-SP supremo Sharad Pawar here.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal were also present during Kharge's meeting with Thackeray.

Gandhi said the meeting with Thackeray was held in the context of the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"The Maha Vikas Aghadi will contest the elections together and win," he said on his WhatsApp channel.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the undivided Shiv Sena had won 56 seats, the undivided NCP 54 and the Congress 45.

After the Shiv Sena walked out of the pre-poll alliance with the BJP, Pawar had brought together the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress parties with diverse ideologies to form the MVA with Thackeray as the chief minister.

Half way through the tenure, the Shiv Sena split with Eknath Shinde walking away with majority of the MLAs and aligned with the BJP to form the NDA government. An year later, the NCP underwent a similar split and Ajit Pawar also joined the government helmed by Shinde with Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy. PTI BJP/SKU AS AS