NCP Pushes for Equal Share of Seats as Congress in Maharashtra Assembly Polls
The Congress and the NCP have been in an alliance since 1999. It was only in 2014 state assembly polls that the two sides parted ways.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar with newly appointed Maharashtra Congress President President Balasaheb Thorat on Monday. (Image: Twitter/@PawarSpeaks)
New Delhi: The leaders of the NCP and Congress met on Tuesday to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Maharashtra state assembly polls. The NCP has demanded an equal number of seats from the Congress in the polls, citing the drubbing of its alliance partner in Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won only one seat from the state while the NCP bagged four.
In 2014, the Congress had won two seats from the state while the NCP won four. The NCP had contested on 21 seats while its partner Congress fielded candidates in 26.
The Congress and the NCP have been in an alliance since 1999. It was only in 2014 state assembly polls that the two sides parted ways.
In the 2004 assembly polls, the NCP had won more seats than the Congress, but the latter bagged the chief minister's post.
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"The situation has changed now. We have performed better than the Congress in the last two Lok Sabha polls. So, the seats have to be divided equally,"a party leader said. The Maharashtra assembly has 288 seats.
The NCP also held its working committee meeting on Tuesday here, where the party deliberated on the reasons behind its performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The working committee also discussed the upcoming state assembly polls in the state.
"Voting through EVMs was also deliberated upon by the working committee," the leader added.