Cong, NCP finalise seat sharing formula

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders met to resolve the difference over seat sharing in Maharashtra, the second largest state in terms of Lok Sabha seats, where the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance hopes regain in this election the lost ground.

The meeting at the residence of Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Pranab Mukherjee was attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his close associates, and state Congress committee leaders.

According to a broad agreement reached at the meeting, the NCP would contest 22 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress 26, sources said. There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

While the NCP demanded more seats on the plea that it would have to give at least two seats to Independent allies like Ram Das Athawale, the Congress showed its inability to concede the demand, sources said.

However, the Congress promised to support at least two Independents who were in a better position to challenge the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, they added.

But both the parties are facing difficulties in identifying constituencies to be shared by them. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena had won 28 seats while the Congress and the NCP, which fought separately, could win only 20 seats.

"There is certainly no problem in identifying seats, which have already been won either by the NCP or the Congress," said a Congress leader. Obviously, the NCP and the Congress are trying to avoid the seats where the BJP-Shiv Sena has a strong presence.

The Congress also sought inputs from Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on the seat sharing formula.

The Congress is keen to hold brain-storming sessions with the NCP to select the best candidates, giving due importance to demographic composition of each constituencies, which is seen as a road to power for the NDA alliance in this elections.