Mumbai, April 26: The ruling alliance partners in Maharashtra - the Shiv Sena and the BJP - are likely to contest separately in the upcoming legislative council elections. While a decision is yet to be taken, party insiders claim the two parties will test their strengths individually.

The 25-year-old coalition partners, who had previously contested separately in the 2014 assembly elections, will have to take a call on their partnership in the forthcoming biennial elections by May 3, which is the last date for filing the nominations.

The Upper House of the Maharashtra Legislature will go to polls on May 21, with the results scheduled to be declared on May 24. The six nominees will be elected by the local representatives of  Konkan (Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Nashik, Osmanabad-Latur-Beed, Parbhani-Hingoli, Amravati and Chandrapur regions respectively.

While the NCP held three of the seats going into the polls, the BJP and the Congress held two and one respectively. However, the string of reversals faced by the NCP and Congress in the local body polls , it is unlikely that the two parties would be able to hold on to their grounds.

The BJP, while expecting to win at least four of the six seats, could end up being ousted in Konkan and Nashik, where the Sena, NCP and Congress have a significant presence in the civic bodies.

Party insiders, however, claim that an understanding could be reached with the Sena, by supporting its candidates from Nashik and Konkan, in lieu of the latter's support in the remaining four seats. Such "an understanding", a senior party leader said, would boost the BJP-Sena relations in the Legislative Council.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 11:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).