Losses in Vidarbha contributed to BJP's weak show

Opposition Congress and NCP have made fresh inroads in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in the Assembly elections, winning 21 of the 62 seats and recouping some of the losses of 2014.

Results of the state assembly polls were out on Thursday.

The BJP won 29 seats while its ally Shiv Sena won five seats in this eastern Maharashtra region which comprises eleven districts.

In the 2014 polls, the BJP had won 45 seats in Vidarbha.

The saffron party, which won total of 105 seats this time, looks set to retain power in alliance with the Sena, but its goal of achieving majority on its own was not realised.

Congress won 15 seats in Vidarbha, including Nagpur West and Nagpur North, part of Nagpur city which is the hometown of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis won from Nagpur South-West constituency.

The Nationalist Congress Party bagged six seats.

Independents -- mostly BJP or Sena rebels -- and smaller parties bagged another seven seats.

The BJP lost 15 seats to the Congress, NCP and rebels.

Vidarbha had always been a Congress stronghold till the BJP swept the region in 2014.

The region comprises the districts of Buldhana, Akola, Washim, Amravati, Chandrapur, Yavatmal, Wardha, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Gondia and Bhandara.

The BJP earlier supported the long-standing demand for separate state of Vidarbha. However, after coming to power in 2014, it largely remained silent on the issue.

Earlier this week, after the polling day, Fadnavis had said while talking to reporters that the party had not given up the demand for separate Vidarbha, but the issue falls in the purview of the Central government.