Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has demanded an equal number of seats for the Lok Sabha elections in its first meeting with Congress on Friday.
The party suggested five seats to Congress for the exchange.
The Congress-NCP’s earlier seat-sharing formula was 27-21. The party is also demanding an equal number of seats in Mumbai.
In a meeting held in Mumbai, NCP leaders proposed an equal-number-of-seats formula in the coming election. Maharashtra has a total of 48 Assembly constituencies. Out of those, NCP demanded 24.
“We have five Lok Sabha Members of Parliament in Maharashtra whereas Congress has only two. So we are stronger than the Congress. On this basis, NCP deserves an equal number of seats,” said a senior NCP leader who attended the meeting.
NCP has also demanded the Hatkanangale, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Jalna and Pune Lok Sabha seats from Congress. These all five seats are with Congress. Out of these, NCP is ready to accommodate Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana’s Raju Shetti as its ally in Hatkanangale.
There are six LS seats in Mumbai — Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai South.
The NCP is demanding North West, North Central and North East. Earlier it had only one in its quota.
Meanwhile, Congress sources indicated that a decision on the number of seats to be contested by NCP and Congress was unlikely to take place at the state level. “Our central leadership will have a discussion with NCP leaders. The formula of seats will be decided there. Also, we will have to think about the smaller allies that need to be taken on board this time. So, this process will take some time now,” said a senior leader of Congress.
NCP president Sharad Pawar had, on Thursday, called a meeting of senior leaders of the party's Maharashtra unit Friday to discuss the candidates for the next year's Lok Sabha elections.
“He is keen to finalise or at least shortlist the candidates as early as possible so that preparations for the polls can start,” a party leader said here Thursday.
