Mumbai, September 29: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Shiv Sena is likely to announce their seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections today. Speaking at a meeting of top Shiv Sena leaders, party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that the alliance with the BJP for the October 21 assembly elections would happen and shall be announced "very soon". Ramdas Athawale Demands BJP-Shiv Sena to Allot 10 Seats to RPI For Contesting in Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019.

Uddhav Thackeray also said that he had promised his father late Bal Thackeray that a Shiv Sainik would become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra one day. "I had made this commitment to Balasaheb that I would make a Shiv Sainik the state's Chief Minister. I vow to fulfil that promise," the Shiv Sena chief said. There have been apprehensions among workers and leaders of both the parties about seat-sharing talks. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019: Congress-NCP to Contest on 125 Seats Each.

The Shiv Sena is adamant on 50-50 formula under which both allies will contest 135 seats each, leaving the remaining 18 seats to the smaller allies. According to Sena leaders, before sealing alliance for the Lok Sabha polls, both the BJP and Shiv Sena had agreed to contest an equal number of seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections. They say Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had promised this in presence of BJP chief Amit Shah.

However, after the BJP returned to power at the Centre with a bigger mandate, party leaders were of the view that seats shouldn't be divided equally between the two main partners. A couple of days ago, the BJP reportedly proposed a seat-sharing formula under which it would contest 144 seats, share 126 with Shiv Sena and allot the rest to other allies. The Shiv Sena has not reacted to this yet.

The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will go to the polls on October 21 while the results will be declared on October 24. In the 2014 assembly elections, Shiv Sena had won 63 seats, while BJP had bagged 123 seats.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 29, 2019 09:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).