Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar) alliance will win 165 seats in Maharashtra assembly elections: Survey

PUNE: MVA would get around 165 seats in the state and ruling Mahayuti partners would be in an advantageous position in Mumbai, Konkan and north Maharashtra, a survey conducted by the opposition alliance partners about three months before the assembly elections suggested.
“We won 31 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls. It is around 65% of the total 48 seats.Ideally, we would like to maintain the same average in the assembly elections, which would get us around 188 seats. Our preliminary assessment suggests that we will be winning around 165 seats. It is a good number, but still we would like to improve the tally in actual polls later this year,” a senior Congress member told TOI.

At least 144 assembly seats are required to form the govt in the state.
Riding high on the Lok Sabha elections success, the alliance of Congress, NCP (SCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) is now looking to replicate the same performance in the assembly polls, expected to be held around Diwali. In a collective meeting of MVA partners while deciding the strategy, the alliance partners divided the state into seven regions for assessment.
According to MVA members, the alliance has an upper hand in Nagpur, Amravati, Marathwada and western Maharashtra regions. “Among the alliance partners, Congress will perform better in Nagpur and Amravati regions. Marathwada also looks favourable for the alliance, where Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have good support. In western Maharashtra, the alliance is dependent on NCP (SCP). It, according to the survey, is doing better than other parties. It suggests that all the major parties are sharing the responsibility well for the alliance,” a former cabinet minister from NCP (SCP) said.
While the four regions are looking favourable for MVA, the assessment suggests that Mahayuti continues to dominate the regions of Mumbai, Konkan and north Maharashtra despite the below par results in the Lok Sabha elections. The alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP still holds ground in these regions, the assessment of MVA shows.
Another senior Congressman said, “The MVA alliance had a poor show in Konkan. It will be a daunting task to regroup and improve the assembly results in the region. In Mumbai also, BJP and Shiv Sena will pose a big challenge, which our alliance will have to tackle. As far as north Maharashtra is concerned, Congress still looks weaker there though we won some seats in that region in Lok Sabha elections. We do not have much time in hand to work on our weaknesses, but we are concentrating on the regions where we are lagging behind.”