The Mahayuti alliance is all set for a thumping victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections, with the latest trends showing the ruling bloc leading in over 200 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is en route to become the single largest party, leading in over 120 seats in the 288 member assembly. The other partners in the ruling alliance, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress party, were leading 58 and 34 seats, respectively.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, meanwhile, appeared stumbling and is ahead in less than 60 seats. Among the MVA constituents, the Congress was leading in 22 seats, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) in 17 seats, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) in 16 seats.
Non-aligned parties were leading in half a dozen seats. Among them, Jan Surajya Shakti (JSS), Workers Party of India (WPI) and Swatantra Bharat Paksha (SBP) are likely to support the MVA alliance.
Among the high-profile candidates, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were leading in their constituencies—Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Nagpur South-West and Baramati, respectively.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole was leading from Sakoli while Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray was leading in Worli assembly seat.
Congress Legislature Party leader and former minister Balasaheb Thorat was trailing in Sangamner assembly seat while former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan was also trailing in Karad South.
The counting began at 8 am. The elections, held in a single phase on Wednesday, saw a voter turnout of 66 per cent, surpassing the 61 per cent recorded in 2021.