There is a tussle over seat sharing within the ruling Mahayuti alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has reached Delhi. Talks between the alliance partners were at a standstill over key seats including Thane, Nashik, Sambhajinagar and Parbhani. The nomination process is scheduled to begin from Monday.
Shiv Sena has demanded seven seats while BJP is planning to contest on 11 to 12 seats, of which three seats will be for Shiv Sena and two to three seats for Sunitra Pawar-led NCP. Talks have been going on between the BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and NCP for the last five days but the allies have not yet finalized the seat sharing.
MLC elections: Deadlock continues between BJP-Shiv Sena over seat sharing
Shiv Sena sources said Shinde had sought time from the top BJP leadership amid the ongoing deadlock over seat sharing. However, speaking to reporters, a Shiv Sena minister said that Shinde had suddenly gone to Delhi for some other work. After the Delhi visit, Eknath Shinde went to Bengaluru where he participated in an event as per his schedule on Sunday evening.
Shiv Sena later demanded seven seats, saying it had strong support in Mumbai, Thane, Raigarh, Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Nashik and Yavatmal. “Whether there is an alliance or not, Shiv Sena workers are ready to hoist the saffron flag in the Zilla Parishad,” the Shiv Sena MP said on Thane Zilla Parishad elections, raising signs of differences within the alliance.
Shiv Sena demanded seven seats
The Shiv Sena minister also said that the party has demanded seven seats in the assembly elections and insisted that the Jalgaon seat should go to Shiv Sena. However, BJP is also staking its claim on this seat. Despite the current tension, BJP leader and minister Girish Mahajan said the issue would be resolved soon.
Elections are being held for 16 seats in MLC constituencies and one by-election seat in Nagpur. Voting will take place on June 18 and counting of votes will take place on June 22, 2026. After several rounds of meetings, the allies have agreed on most of the seats but the main dispute is over Thane local authority constituency as well as Nashik, Sambhajinagar and Parbhani seats.
Controversy increased on Thane seat
BJP and Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena have staked their claim on Thane seat. The BJP MLA said that this seat should be given to BJP because BJP has more numbers in this area. He claimed that BJP has 444 councilors in the region while Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Jijau organization together have 346 councillors. However, Shinde-led Shiv Sena considers Thane as its traditional stronghold and is not ready to give up the seat.
On Saturday, Maharashtra BJP President and senior BJP leaders met Shinde as part of talks. Soon after, the NCP leader also met the Deputy Chief Minister. Sources said the allies have reached an agreement on almost all other seats. Sources also said that Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is preparing to field candidates in Raigarh, which has made the talks even more complicated. A final decision on the remaining dispute is expected to be taken in the meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shinde and Sunetra Pawar on Monday.
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