Maha polls: BJP-Sena to announce seat-sharing pact on Tuesday

Mumbai: The BJP and Shiv Sena will formally announce on Tuesday their pre-poll pact for the October 21 assembly elections in Maharashtra, said a senior BJP leader on Monday. The saffron allies are locked in an intense negotiation on seat-sharing and a consensus has eluded them till now on how many constituencies each of them will contest in the 288-member assembly.

"Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will hold a joint press meet on Tuesday. They will share details of seat-sharing formula among other things, the BJP leader said. The national party has been insisting on retaining all the 122 assembly seats it had won in the 2014 elections and was ready to discuss how to share rest of the constituencies, he said.

The Shiv Sena had won 63 seats in 2014, when both parties had contested the elections separately. A few months later, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party joined the government led by Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of Maharashtra. The two parties also have to accommodate smaller allies who are part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Addressing a rally here on Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah had lauded Fadnavis for his performance over the last five years and asserted he will continue to hold the coveted post after elections, which he claimed, the NDA will win with a three-fourth majority.