The issue of seat sharing dominated the third meeting of the opposition INDIA alliance. According to sources, the national presidents of the two parties involved in the meeting demanded to settle the seat agreement dispute by 30 September. The logic of both the leaders was that elections can be announced any time, so solve the most difficult task first.
India alliance has given priority to seat sharing in its resolution for the first time. In the press conference also, all the leaders reiterated that soon the work of seat sharing will be finalised. A meeting of the Coordination Committee will be held soon in Delhi for this.
3 formula is more discussed regarding seat sharing. However, in the meeting, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal demanded a separate mechanism. Let us understand in this story, how the seats can be distributed in the India alliance?
What is the 3rd formula for seat sharing?
1. The claim of the respective parties on the seats will be considered strong. That is, the party which has won from where it is now, has the first claim for the ticket there. Candidates who won in 2014 and lost in 2019 will also be given preference on those seats. The first formula for seat selection is the winning candidate.
2. The old formula of seat sharing will continue in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand. Here Congress is in alliance with allies since 2019. However, the JMM in Jharkhand aspires to contest more seats in the Lok Sabha.
3. New formula for seat sharing will be made in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. Somewhere the seat distribution will be done on the basis of data of assembly elections and somewhere on the basis of data of Lok Sabha elections.
Now understand state-wise how seats can be distributed?
Uttar Pradesh- Congress, SP, RLD and Apna Dal, which are part of the alliance here, mainly have a mass base of Kamerawadi. Nitish Kumar and Sharad Pawar also want to bring Mayawati into the fold of the alliance. If Mayawati comes, the seat sharing formula may change.
Otherwise the command of seat sharing will remain in the hands of Samajwadi Party. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress demands that the 2009 formula be adopted in seat sharing. In 2009, the Congress had won 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Congress could win only 2 seats in 2014 and 1 seat in 2019.
RLD’s claim is on 8 seats, but Akhilesh can also give 5-6 seats to Jayant Chaudhary. Similarly, Apna Dal can field its candidate on 1 seat of Kamerawadi Lok Sabha.
Maharashtra- Maharashtra is at number two with 48 seats in the Lok Sabha. Here the India alliance has Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad), Congress and Prakash Ambedkar’s party. Efforts are on to bring Raju Shetty’s Shetkari Sangathan into the alliance.
Shiv Sena’s demand is on 18 seats, while Congress wants to divide the remaining seats equally by giving seats to smaller parties. If Congress goes ahead, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad) and Congress can contest 15-15-15 seats.
In 2019, Shiv Sena (united) won 18 seats, NCP 4 and Congress 1. Congress was second on 21 seats and NCP on 16 seats. Shiv Sena also had to face defeat on 5 seats.
West Bengal- Trinamool, Congress and CPM involved in the India alliance are active in the politics of Bengal. Trinamool does not want to give even a single seat to CPM in Bengal. However, Nitish and Tejashwi are constantly engaged in the exercise of persuading Mamta.
CPM is staking claim on Alipurduar, Bankura, Bolpur, Asansol, Medinipur and Burdwan seats.
Congress in Bengal is demanding seat sharing according to 2009 data. Congress 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool Congress contested the elections together. Congress had won 6 seats in this election. The Congress contested 14 seats in that election.
Bihar- India alliance was started from Bihar, but here too the dispute of seat sharing is stuck. JDU, Male, Congress, RJD and CPI are part of the alliance in Bihar. At present, JDU has 16 MPs while Congress has 1 MP.
Congress is staking claim on 9 seats just like 2019. CPI and Male are also claiming 5-5 seats. Experts say that the CPI will hardly get even a single seat in the Lok Sabha. Aara’s seat can go to Male’s account.
Whereas JDU can contest on 17 and RJD on 16 seats. In terms of the new equation, JDU can also give some seats to allies. Among these, the seats of Katihar, Madhepura and Supaul are prominent.
Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand- The structure of the alliance in these two states is already final. In 2019, the Congress alliance was most successful in Tamil Nadu itself. In 2019, DMK contested on 20 seats, Congress on 8, CPI-CPM-VCK 2-2-2 and other parties on 4.
DMK alliance won 38 seats. This time also the same formula of seat sharing is going to remain here. Similarly, in Jharkhand, Congress contested on 7, JMM 4, JVMP 2 and RJD 1 seats. However, the alliance won only 2 seats.
This time JMM itself wants to fight on 7 seats. Wants to give 5 seats to Congress and 1-1 seat to JDU-RJD.
Kerala- The seat sharing controversy is also stuck here. The Left and the Congress, which were face to face in the last election, are in an alliance this time. Last time the Congress alliance got 18 out of 20 seats, while the Left alliance won 2 seats.
Left is demanding seat sharing under 50-50 formula. If this happens, Congress may have to lose its 8 seats. However, it is being said that the Congress may leave the 4 seats for the CPM, which it won in the last election with a meager margin of 50,000.
Punjab- In 2019, 7 out of 13 seats in Punjab are currently with the Congress. Aam Aadmi Party has recently won 1 seat. Efforts are being made to bring along the Shiromani Akali Dal from Punjab as well. SAD also has 2 seats.
If SAD does not come together in Punjab, then Congress can contest on 7 and AAP on 6 in Punjab. And the Chandigarh seat can also go to the Congress account.
Delhi- BJP has won all the 7 seats in the national capital Delhi. In 2019, AAP was second in 4 seats here and Congress was second in 3 seats. It is being said that seats can be distributed here with this formula.
AAP is demanding 5 seats from Congress along with Delhi and Punjab as well as Gujarat.