Mumbai/Ranchi, Nov 23 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday pulled off a stunning performance in Maharashtra winning a record number of seats to propel the party-led ruling Mahayuti alliance to a landslide victory while the INDIA bloc stormed back to power in Jharkhand on the back of a spectacular showing by the JMM.
As speculation mounted on who would be the next CM face from the Mahayuti alliance--which also includes the Shiv Sena faction of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP (Ajit Pawar)--and the three allies put up a united front after the "historic" victory, the focus quickly shifted to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is being seen as a strong contender to occupy the top post for the third time.
Such was the BJP's dominance that helped the Mahayuti alliance to get a three-fourths majority and continue the winning momentum after its recent historic hat-trick in Haryana, 128 of the 149 candidates fielded by the saffron party won. Four BJP candidates were also leading.
"Maharashtra has broken all records, it is the biggest win for any party or pre-poll alliance in the last 50 years," Prime Minister Narendra Modi told BJP workers at party headquarters to a thunderous applause late in the evening.
The prime minister also asserted that the message from the Maharashtra elections is that of unity and it is also an endorsement of the "ek hai toh safe hai" (united we are safe) slogan.
The BJP's stellar showing also came just months after it was written off in Maharashtra by some political pundits owing to its poor showing in the politically significant state in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the first assembly elections in Maharashtra since the split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP, Shiv Sena(Shinde) bagged 56 and led in one and the NCP(Ajit Pawar) 40 and ahead in one. The majority mark in the 288-member Assembly is 145. The Shiv Sena(Shinde) fought from 81 seats and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in 59 constituencies.
The BJP's highest tally in Assembly elections in Maharashtra was in 2014 when it bagged 122 seats after which Fadnavis became the chief minister for the first time. In 2019, it got 105 seats.
The extent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) decimation can be gauged from the fact that the Congress won just 13 and was ahead in three, the Shiv Sena(UBT) in 20 and the NCP(Sharad Pawar) in 10. The Congress had fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena(UBT) 95 and the NCP(SP) 86.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray called the poll results completely unexpected and incomprehensible.
Thackeray said the results reflect that there was a "tsunami rather than a wave."
Of the three Congress big guns in the state--Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat and Prithiviraj Chavan--Thorat and Chavan lost. Patole was trailing by a narrow margin. The poll outcome could also lead to a situation where the state Assembly might not even have a Leader of the Opposition.
Prime Minister Modi earlier in the day lauded the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's(NDA) massive victory in Maharashtra as a win for "development and good governance", assuring people of the ruling bloc's continued work for the state's progress.
In posts on X, he also congratulated the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM)-led alliance for its win in Jharkhand, while stressing that his party will always be at the forefront to champion people's issues. He tagged Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who led the INDIA bloc coalition in the state, in his post.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed gratitude to the people of Maharashtra for the "historic victory" of the Mahayuti alliance and said that by giving such a huge mandate to the NDA, people have shut shops of "fake well-wishers of the Constitution".
Shah also thanked the people of Jharkhand for blessing the BJP with the highest percentage of votes.
With the Mahayuti walking the road towards power in a runaway win that went ahead of what exit polls had predicted, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “People have rejected politics of hatred and revenge, accepted politics of welfare and development.” “People took election in their hands to give the Mahayuti a landslide victory."
As Shinde's alliance colleagues attributed the stunning win to targeted welfare schemes such as the the 'Ladki Bahin Yojana', on the other side of the spectrum was Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who alleged there was a "big conspiracy" and something was "fishy".
Voters in Maharashtra, 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.
The BJP's stellar showing just ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections came as a big boost to help it overcome some of its reverses in the general elections where it bagged 240 seats, short of the 272 majority mark in the Lok Sabha.
The focus in Maharashtra shifted to Fadnavis, the architect of BJP's stunning victory.
"Leaders of Mahayuti parties will decide (on next CM)," Fadnavis said on his part.
"Today's verdict shows that the entire community stands united behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 'ek hai toh safe hai' slogan has been a success, particularly for ladki bahins (dear sisters) who benefit from this scheme, receiving Rs 1,500 per month," he said. The RSS' active role in the poll campaign was also cited by political analysts for BJP's sweep.
The Congress continued its losing spree posting its worst-ever show in Maharashtra and ending up a distant junior partner to the ruling JMM in Jharkhand, further diminishing its role in the opposition bloc as other allies perform better.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hailed the INDIA bloc's victory in Jharkhand as one for the protection of the Constitution as well as of water, forest and land, even as he described the Maharashtra results as "unexpected" and said his party will analyse the election outcome in the state in detail.
Sops such as the monthly income support scheme 'Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana', which transfers Rs 1,500 per month to accounts of women between 18 and 60 whose annual family income is below Rs 250,000, appeared to have paid rich dividends for the winning alliance.
The BJP aggresively playing the Hindutva card in Maharashtra and resorted to slogans such as 'ek hai toh safe hai' and 'batenge toh katenge' (divided we fall) in an attempt to send a veiled message of Hindu unity across the caste divide to counter the Opposition's charge that it wanted to end reservation.
In Jharkhand, the JMM-led alliance stormed back to power for the second consecutive term winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly. The majority mark in the assembly is 41.
The BJP-led NDA, which was confident about its prospects in the state after an aggressive campaign, won 23 seats and was leading in one.
JMM won 34 of the 43 seats it contested, the Congress in 16 of the 30 seats, the RJD four of the six seats, while the CPI(ML) Liberation won two of the four seats.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is out on bail in a money laundering case, expressed his gratitude to the people of the state for the INDIA bloc’s impressive performance and said it had passed the "exam of democracy."
“We have passed the exam of democracy," Soren, Jharkhand's youngest chief minister who has had a turbulent but resilient political career, marked by legal battles and internal party struggles, told a press conference in Ranchi.
The BJP's poll plank was driving out "infiltrators" from the Santhal Parganas region, but it seemed to have fallen flat in front of the 'Adivasi' card played by the JMM, which also sought the people's sympathy over the arrest of Soren. PTI VT ND PR MR NAM SAN KR SKU BJ SKC ASK DV MIN GSN GSN
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