BJP and Shiv Sena set to announce alliance for 2019 Lok Sabha polls

The Shiv Sena was poised to formalise its alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha election due by May, after three years of sharp criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party. BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray were expected to announce the tie-up at a joint press conference in Mumbai, following several rounds of talks, some of them behind closed doors.

The reported seat formula

According to sources, the two parties agreed to split Assembly seats in Maharashtra 50-50 for the state election due later. For the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was likely to contest 25 seats and the Sena 23. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, second only to Uttar Pradesh, which has 80.

A strained partnership

The two parties were allies for nearly three decades, but fell out over seat-sharing before the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly election and contested separately. They came together to form a government after the results.

Since then the Sena repeatedly targeted the BJP, and in recent months said it would either be the senior partner in Maharashtra or go it alone. The BJP took a more conciliatory line, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Thackeray at his residence last week.

The Sena reportedly sought the chief minister’s post and wanted a formula similar to 1995, when it contested 169 of the 288 seats against the BJP’s 116. The Sena won 73 seats then and the BJP 65.

What happened next

The BJP won 303 of 543 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election the BJP won 105 seats and the Shiv Sena 56 of 288; after the alliance broke, Uddhav Thackeray became Chief Minister in November 2019 with NCP and Congress support.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena (UBT).

Originally published on 18 February 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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