BJP-led Mahayuti alliance sweeps Maharashtra

Mumbai/Ranchi, Nov 23: Maharashtra was coloured a vivid saffron on Saturday with voters giving the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance a landslide win over a tottering MVA while Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance stormed back to power in Jharkhand on Saturday for the second consecutive term.

As votes were counted for the assembly elections in the two states, it was time for celebration in the BJP with the party poised to win 125 of the 149 seats it contested in the powerhouse state of Maharashtra. Together with its partners Shiv Sena and NCP, the ruling Mahayuti alliance could win 219 of the 288 seats in the state, leaving the Congress-Shiv Sena(UBT)-NCP(SP) tie-up with just 51 seats.

As the opposition reeled under the impact of the decisive mandate against it in Maharashtra, Jharkhand offered some consolation with voters in both states going for continuity rather than change.

“I thank everybody for this victory. We have such a big victory because of the work Mahayuti did. Very grateful,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters while his alliance colleagues attributed the stunning win to welfare schemes such as the Laadli Behna scheme.

His son and Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde said the mandate shows who is taking Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideals forward, pointing to the fractured legacy of the Shiv Sena founder whose son Uddhav heads the Shiv Sena (UBT).

As the Mahayuti walked the road towards power in a result that went ahead of what exit polls had predicted, on the other side of the spectrum was Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut who alleged that there was a “big conspiracy” and something was “fishy”.

“I see a big conspiracy in this…This is not a mandate of Marathi ‘manoos’ and farmers. We do not accept this as people’s mandate,” he said.

Adding that there was little doubt in his mind that money was used in the polls, Raut said, “How can all MLAs of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde win? How can Ajit Pawar, whose betrayal angered Maharashtra, win?”

Voters in the politically significant western state, which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha and gave the MVA a decisive 30 seats, clearly decided to go against the trend of that parliamentary victory just five months ago.

Their mandate gives a fillip for the BJP, which won an unprecedented hat-trick in Haryana last month, and helps the party overcome some of its reverses in the general elections where it bagged just 240 seats.

The Maharashtra verdict — which gives primacy to the BJP within the Mahayuti alliance and opens up the possibility of a shift in power with Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister again – was the stuff of sober introspection too for the Congress and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar.

The BJP was ahead in 125 seats, close to the halfway mark of 144 on its own, while the Shiv Sena had leads in 56 and the NCP in 35. In contrast, the Congress was ahead in just 21, the Shiv Sena(UBT) in 17 and the NCP(SP) in 13.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde and his deputies Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were leading in their respective assembly constituencies. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole was leading narrowly from the Sakoli constituency and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray was leading in the Worli assembly seat.

BJP MLC Darekar said, “Based on the current trends, I believe the BJP will be the single largest party and Devendra Fadnavis should become the chief minister.”

The Congress, for which Priyanka Gandhi’s win in the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-poll is the proverbial silver lining in a dark cloud, counted its reverses in Maharashtra. Its legislature party leader and former minister Balasaheb Thorat was trailing in Sangamner as was senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in the Karad South assembly seat.

“It’s devastating, heartbreaking for us … The BJP is leading due to the amazing groundwork they must’ve done and seat distribution,” Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal told deKoder. In the ruling Mahayuti alliance, the BJP contested 149 assembly seats, the Shiv Sena 81 seats, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in 59 constituencies. In the MVA combine, the Congress fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena(UBT) 95 and the NCP(SP) 86.

Meanwhile, the JMM-led coalition stormed to power for the second time in a row in Jharkhand, steamrolling the BJP-headed NDA, by winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly. In the 2019 elections, the JMM- Congress- alliance emerged victorious in 47 seats.

The JMM coasted to victory in 34 seats, while alliance partners Congress and RJD won in 16 and four constituencies respectively. The CPI(ML) Liberation got two seats.

The NDA, on the other hand, had to be contented with just 24 seats, with BJP winning 21, while its three partners - Ajsu Party, Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas) and JD(U) – bagged one seat each. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is now out on bail in a money-laundering case, led a campaign highlighting the social welfare schemes of his government and alleged conspiracy against him by the BJP-led Centre, while the saffron party canvassed aggressively focusing on "corruption" of his administration and “infiltration from Bangladesh”.