Leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress met on Tuesday to discuss how to divide seats for the coming Maharashtra assembly election, with the NCP pressing for as many seats as the Congress.

The NCP’s argument

The NCP based its demand on the Congress’s poor showing in the Lok Sabha election. In the 2019 polls, the Congress won just one seat in Maharashtra while the NCP won four. In 2014, the Congress won two and the NCP four, with the NCP contesting 21 seats and the Congress 26.

A long partnership

The two parties have been allies since 1999 and went their separate ways only for the 2014 assembly election. In the 2004 assembly polls the NCP finished with a bigger tally than the Congress, yet the chief minister’s post went to the Congress.

What happened next

In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly election, the BJP won 105 of the 288 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. After the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance broke down, Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena became Chief Minister in November 2019 with the support of the NCP and the Congress.

See also: Nationalist Congress Party | Indian National Congress

Originally published on 17 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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