Congress and NCP enter pact, to contest 125 seats each

MUMBAI: Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday said they would contest equal number of seats for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. ET had reported in July that the Congress and NCP are likely to stitch up such an arrangement.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who was speaking to reporters in Nashik, said that the Congress and NCP will be contesting 125 seats each out of the 288 seats, while the remaining 38 seats will be distributed between allies such as the Peasants and Workers Party of India, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and other smaller partners.

The Congress had always played the lead role in Maharashtra: in the 2009 Assembly elections, it had contested from 171 seats while the NCP, 112 seats. The NCP parted ways with the Congress in 2014 over seat sharing issues. It is a major climbdown for the Congress that it has agreed to contest an equal number of seats this time around, but party leaders said an altered political climate necessitated such a move.


Pawar said they still have to discuss exchange of seats in a few constituencies as both parties have laid claim to some seats, and stressed the two parties will hold joint rallies in Nagpur, Pune and Aurangabad.