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Informist, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – Recording its best ever performance in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party is on course to win over 130 seats in the state assembly on its own. The "Mahayuti", or grand alliance, led by the BJP, which also comprises the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, is heading for a three-fourths majority in the House.

 

The alliance had won or was leading in nearly 230 constituencies at the time of writing. The majority mark in the 288-member assembly is 145.

 

At 1830 IST, the BJP had won 83 seats and was leading in 50 seats, the Shiv Sena led by outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had won 39 seats and was leading in 18 seats, and the NCP led by outgoing Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had registered wins in 33 constituencies and was leading in eight. The BJP’s vote share was 26.69%, an increase of nearly one percentage point, from 25.75% in 2019.

 

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) suffered a humiliating defeat, winning barely 50 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had won 16 seats and was leading in four, the NCP (SP) had won six seats and was leading in four, and the Congress had won 10 and was leading in five.

 

Voting for the 288 seats was held in a single phase on Wednesday and the voter turnout recorded was over 66%, a jump of five percentage points from 2019. The previous assembly election in the state was held on Oct. 21, 2019, and the results were announced on Oct. 24. The BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena had contested the elections in alliance and secured a majority winning 161 seats--105 for the BJP and 56 for the Sena. The undivided NCP had won 54 seats and the Congress had won 44.

 

Shinde said the people's mandate was for the politics of development and welfare, and they had rejected the politics of hatred and revenge. "We succeeded in striking a balance between development and welfare measures," he said at a press conference. "Our government was the common man’s government. Women, children, and farmers were the centre point for us."

 

Political analysts said the government's “Ladki Bahin Yojana”, introduced after the alliance was beaten in the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, appeared to have turned the tide in its favour. The scheme provides financial support of INR 1,500 per month to women in the age group of 21 to 65 years. The Mahayuti has promised to raise the allowance to INR 2,100. It has also promised to waive farm loans and increase the pension of senior citizens to INR 2,000 a month from INR 1,500, among other sops.

 

Analysts said the “Ek hain to safe hain” narrative of the BJP to consolidate Dalits, tribals, and other backward classes in the state also appeared to have clicked. The BJP had suffered a major reverse in the Lok Sabha election, when the Mahayuti won just 17 of the total 48 seats and the MVA won 30. Votes of the other backward classes, Marathas, and Dalits had shifted to the Congress and its allies in the Lok Sabha polls.

 

For the assembly election, the BJP launched its campaign with the slogans “Batenge to katenge" and "Ek hain to safe hain”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party's star campaigner, repeatedly used the latter slogan at his rallies, warning voters of an alleged conspiracy by the Congress and its allies to divide the country on caste lines for political gain. The BJP appears to have succeeded in consolidating the votes of the other backward classes, Dalits, and Marathas.

 

Many analysts also believe the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s involvement on the ground helped. Unlike in the Lok Sabha polls, the Sangh worked to mobilise voters in favour of the Mahayuti alliance this time.

 

CONGRESS DEBACLE

The performance of the Congress in Maharashtra is the one-time ruling party's worst ever, with just about 15 seats in its kitty, according to data on the Election Commission website. In 2019, the party had won 44 seats and in 2014, it had bagged 42.

 

The party's vote share also fell by nearly two percentage points to a little over 12%, as it failed to carry the momentum from its strong performance in the Lok Sabha polls into the assembly election. In the general election, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the state, winning 13 seats on the issue of the Constitution being in danger and promising to remove the 50?p on reservations and conduct a caste census.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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