New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) As the results of Assembly elections and bypolls brought a mixed bag for the INDIA bloc on Saturday, with the defeat in Maharashtra coming as a major setback, leaders of its constituents once again highlighted that smaller parties did not get enough seats to contest, even as they called the Jharkhand victory a "moral defeat" for the attempts at communal polarisation.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which has the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as its constituents, swept the Maharashtra polls, months after the Lok Sabha election, in which the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won a large chunk of seats.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member Ashok Dhawale flagged the delay in finalising seat-sharing arrangements, the race among key opposition parties to get the maximum number of seats to contest and not giving enough space to smaller parties among the reasons for the INDIA bloc's below-par performance in Maharashtra, even as he accused the Mahayuti of using money power and handing out cash to voters.
"The MVA was overconfident because of its good show in the Lok Sabha polls. The seat adjustment should have been done by September, so that the remaining time could be used for public meetings," he said.
Dhawale said during the Lok Sabha polls held in April-May, the first state where the INDIA bloc finalised the seat-sharing arrangements was Maharashtra, which helped it achieve success.
Accusing the Mahayuti of using money power, he said, "There was unprecedented use of money power. People are telling us that BJP volunteers gave packets containing money amounting to Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 to every household, even among the middle class."
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya described the Jharkhand poll results as a defeat for the BJP's "politics of hatred".
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had raised allegations of infiltration of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas as a major poll issue.
"The Jharkhand results are encouraging. Basically, the BJP was trying to destablilise the state government and it did not succeed. The mandate is against the BJP's assault on federalism and politics of vendetta. It is also a defeat for the hate narrative that was being spread by BJP leaders," Bhattacharya told PTI.
Asked about the bypoll results in Bihar, which goes to Assembly polls next year, he said it does not reflect the ground reality in the state.
Bhattacharya claimed that the bypoll results will not have any impact on the Bihar Assembly election. The ruling NDA in Bihar swept the bypolls to four Assembly segments, retaining Imamganj and wresting Tarari, Ramgarh and Belaganj from the INDIA bloc.
On the election outcome in Maharashtra, Bhattacharya said, "The results are completely against the Lok Sabha poll trends. We need a proper investigation."
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja welcomed the Jharkhand poll results and said the people of the state rejected the BJP's communal politics.
"BJP leaders, including the prime minister, stooped to such a low level.... If there is infiltration, it is the BJP government at the Centre that needs to answer. They made it a poll plank," Raja told PTI.
He also said the BJP's attempts to misuse agencies against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren failed.
Asked about Maharashtra, Raja said there was no "level-playing field" for the opposition, but added that serious introspection by the INDIA bloc constituents is the need of the hour.
"There was no level-playing field. There are doubts if the election was free and fair. Some BJP leaders were caught with huge amounts of money. What action did the Election Commission take?" he asked.
The results in Maharashtra are nonetheless a "matter of concern", he added.
"The Congress and other parties that claim to be in the INDIA bloc should also do serious introspection as to why they could not put up a strong fight. It applies to the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh as well. There was no mutual accommodation among secular democratic parties at the time of seat sharing," the Left leader said.
The BJP won six of the nine Assembly seats that went to bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) got one. The Samajwadi Party (SP) won the two remaining seats.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien pointed out that his party overcame challenges from both the BJP and INDIA bloc constituents Congress and the Left to win all the six Assembly seats in West Bengal where bypolls were held.
"The TMC convincingly won all the six Assembly seats that went to bypolls. Other than the BJP, we were also facing two of the INDIA bloc parties -- Congress and CPI(M) -- who put up candidates in every seat," he said.
O'Brien, however, refused to comment on the performance of the INDIA bloc.
"We do not have an electoral alliance with any party in the bloc, so this is not a question we need to answer," the TMC's parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha said.
According to latest trends, the BJP-led Mahayuti is set to win more than 230 of the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, leaving the opposition Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP(SP) combine with around 50 seats.
The alliance led by Hemant Soren's JMM retained power in Jharkhand, winning 52 seats and leading in four in the 81-member Assembly.
The BJP-led NDA, which was confident about its prospects in the eastern state after an aggressive campaign, won 21 seats and was leading in three.