File photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray
Credit: PTI Photo
The elections to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra are scheduled to be held in a single phase on November 20 while the results will be declared on November 23.
The 288-member assembly had a tumultuous 5-year-term as the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena alliance which contested the 2019 assembly elections together fell apart over the issue of who would be CM, and a Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government was formed.
The alliance did not last long as two and a half years later, in June 2022 a split in Shiv Sena, led to current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with 40 MLAs joining hands with BJP to form government. Later on, Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar also joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in July 2023. Pawar was later made the deputy chief minister of the state.
2019 assembly elections numbers
After the 2019 state elections, BJP had emerged as the single largest party with 105 seats, followed by its then alliance partner Shiv Sena with 56 seats. Congress and NCP had won 44 and 54 seats respectively.
While BJP had polled 25.7 per cent votes, NCP had the second largest vote share at 16.7 per cent. Shiv Sena and Congress followed closely with 16.4 and 15.9 per cent.
Current scenario
The ruling Mahayuti alliance led by the BJP has 202 members in the 288-member assembly. The BJP is the single largest party with 102 members followed by the NCP (40), Shiv Sena (38), and smaller outfits and Independents adding 22 members.
The opposition MVA coalition has 71 members in the assembly. Congress has 37 members followed by Shiv Sena-UBT (16), NCP-SP (12), SP (2), CPI(M) (1), PWPI (1). AIMIM has two members in the state assembly, where 15 seats are vacant.
Morale is high in the MVA faction after the Lok Sabha election results in which the alliance managed to win 30 seats against Mahayuti's only 17 seats. The state has 48 parliamentary constituencies.
Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and the Left parties — got around 44 per cent votes, while the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP got 43.6 per cent votes.
It remains to be seen whether the opposition alliance manages to recreate the Lok Sabha elections outcome or the Mahayuti government's public schemes give it another term in the state assembly which has a majority mark of 145 seats.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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