Prospective allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena, are currently engaged in a psychological tussle in Maharashtra over the issue of government formation in the state, trying to woo the 13 elected Independent MLAs in order to amp up their respective bargaining powers in a struggle for more control.
A few BJP office-bearers have already claimed that they have secured the support of "all the Independents", including the few rebels. If this is true, the effective strength of the BJP will be boosted up to 118, compared to their 122 in 2014. However, the Shiv Sena, too, has claimed that they already have the support of two Independent MLAs, while they're set to win more to their side.
The newly-elected Independent MLAs are: Manjula T. Gavit (Sakri), Chandrakant N. Patil (Muktainagar), Ravi Rana (Badnera), Ashish N. Jaiswal (Ramtek), Narendra B. Bhondekar (Bhandara), Vinod Agrawal (Gondiya), Kishor G. Jorgewar (Chandrapur), Geeta B. Jain (Mira-Bhayander), Mahesh Baldi (Uran), Sanjay V. Shinde (Karmala), Rajendra V. Raut (Barshi), Prakashanna Awade (Ichalkaranji) and Rajendra S. Patil-Yadravkar (Shirol).
Currently, it is confirmed that the BJP has the support of at least one Independent MLA - Ravi Rana (Badnera). The Shiv Sena, too, has the support of at least two Independent MLAs - Ashish N Jaiswal (Ramtek) and Narendra B Bhondekar (Bhandara).
Both the parties have claimed that they are in contact with "many more independents" and are confident of bagging their endorsement.
According to the election arithmetic, even if either of the parties receives the support of all 13 MLAs, they will not achieve the half-way mark in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, which is 144. Therefore, the support of the Independent MLAs is not being considered as essential for government formation, but sure will contribute to having more bargaining power in a tussle for power over the throne.
After the counting of votes on October 24, the final result stands at something like the following. The BJP has got 105 MLAs, and the Sena 56, taking their combined tally to 161. The Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has got 54 MLAs and the Congress stands in the fourth position with 44 MLAs, plus their allies and other smaller parties, totalling 113.
