Amid ongoing seat-sharing talks within Maharashtra’s ruling alliance ‘Mahayuti’, pressure is mounting on BJP as fellow allies NCP (Ajit Pawar camp) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) are pushing for a larger share of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, sources told India Today TV.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar is planning to conduct a review of nearly sixteen Lok Sabha seats on the days when Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the state.

The Ajit Pawar camp currently holds only one Lok Sabha seat, Raigad, represented by the party’s state president, Sunil Tatkare.

“The review meeting organised by Ajit Pawar will be attended by all the senior leaders and office bearers of the party from concerned constituencies,” NCP (Ajit Pawar camp) spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare said.

Sources said that Ajit Pawar camp is determined to contest at least 10 out of Maharashtra’s 85 Lok Sabha seats, including Dharashiv, Parbhani, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Madha, Hingoli, Baramati, Shirur, Satara, and Raigad in the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s Shamburaj Desai, a Cabinet minister from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp, asserted that the party, which contested 22 constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, aims to contest all 22 seats in the upcoming 2024 polls.

Desai, while speaking to India Today TV, said that seat-sharing concerns of the Shinde Sena will be formally presented during the central parliamentary board and state coordination meetings, with further discussions with BJP and NCP leaders.

Disputes persist over several seats, including Madha, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurga, Maval, Shirur, Raigad, Mumbai Northwest, Palghar, Sambhaji Nagar, Parbhani, Yavatmal, Shirdi, and Gadchiroli, among the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), and NCP (Ajit Pawar), sources added.

Senior NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Ramraje Nimbalkar has laid his claim on the Madha Lok Sabha seat which is currently held by BJP’s Ranjit Naik Nimbalkar. Madha seat was once considered to be a bastion of the NCP, where Sharad Pawar had also contested in 2009 and won.

Following Union SME Minister Narayan Rane’s claim over Ratnagiri-Sindhudurga, Ramdas Kadam of Shinde Sena slammed the BJP, questioning if the party aims to eliminate every party ahead of the elections.

Reacting to Kadam’s remark, Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that every party has the right to lay claim over their seats, but the final decision will be taken after discussions between state and central leadership.

Notably, BJP’s first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections excluded any names from Maharashtra. Eknath Shinde, on Sunday, said that ‘Mahayuti’ alliance aims to win 45 seats in the state in the Lok Sabha polls to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a top economy.