NCP to contest 104 out of 215 seats, Congress 111

Mumbai: The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have finalised 215 seats, with the remaining 73 seats to be discussed next week, sources said on Saturday.

Out of the 215 seats, the NCP will contest 104, while the Congress will contest 111. Moreover, the Congress-NCP alliance is likely to give five seats to the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).

NCP president Sharad Pawar had held a meeting at a Baramati hostel in Pune Friday. State president Jayant Patil, senior NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse-Patil, and Mumbai president and party spokesperson Nawab Malik had also attended the meeting.

“We held our parliamentary board meeting in Pune and 104 seats have been cleared by the Congress party. We have decided our candidates on many of the seats. A panel will be formed for clearing the candidates for the remaining seats. The panel will sit together and finalise the candidates,” Mr Malik said.

He added that the party will hold a meeting again after the Congress clears the remaining 73 seats. Unlike in 2014, the Congress and NCP have decided to contest the elections together in 2019.

Both parties have tried to woo like-minded parties including Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) to give a tough fight to the ruling saffron alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena in the Assembly elections — likely to be held in mid-October.

Sources said that all frontline leaders have been asked to contest the Assembly election. The NCP is likely to declare its list once the date of election is announced. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) is likely to be given three seats, sources said.

In the Assembly polls held in 2014, the Congress had won 42 and the NCP 41 seats. The Opposition is presently struggling with a mass exodus of their legislators and senior leaders.