Assembly Election Results | BJP-led Maha Yuti a runaway winner in Maharashtra, I.N.D.I.A. block bags Jharkhand

New Delhi: Riding on a slew of welfare schemes targeting women, especially direct cash transfers, the BJP-led ruling NDA on Saturday won a spectacular three-fourth majority in Maharashtra while in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha registered its best-ever performance to script a stunning comeback for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The scale of the BJP's victory in the battle to control India's financial capital comes as yet another electoral relief to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coalition government in Delhi and triggers an existential crisis for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction.

For the Congress, which slid to its worst-ever tally in Maharashtra, the results come close on the heels of Haryana reversals, adding to a long list of provinces where the grand old party has collapsed in direct duels with the BJP. This is underscored by Hemant Soren's success in shepherding the I.N.D.I.A. bloc to victory in Jharkhand — with Congress as a minor partner — in the face of BJP's shrill rhetoric on 'Bangladeshi infiltrators'.

Maharashtra is yet another example of BJP's structural depth to generate alternative narratives after electoral reversals. Swept away by the Maha Vikas Aadhi's 'save Constitution' wave five months back, the BJP and its allies, Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, were quick to shift gear clearing a host of schemes including 'Ladki-Behen-Yojna', handing out pre-Diwali cash bonanza to 25 million beneficiaries.

When the voting ended Wednesday, the state registered its highest-ever voting in 25 years with women electors showing a spike of almost 6 percentage points, a contributory factor in the ruling Mahayuti's landslide. As compared to Lok Sabha polls, the vote share of BJP and its allies went up by more than 5 percentage points.

The Congress-led Maha Vikas Agadi attempted to resurrect its campaign on the sedimentary remains of the LS elections. It could not offer anything new — neither materially or ideologically — to the electorate. The 'save Constitution' theme had either lost traction or was politically neutralised, resulting in a drop of 10 percentage points in MVA's vote share as compared to LS polls.

Election campaigns are wrapped in layers. The ideological bulwark for NDA's Maharashtra win came from the RSS. In the five-month interregnum between the LS and assembly elections, the BJP's ideological fount initiated a massive ground connection with community leaders to counter Congress's caste mobilisation. Modi's 'ek hein to safe hein' and Devendra Fadnavis's 'vote Jihad' was the public articulation of Sangh's silent campaign.

The Maharashtra outcome could have a far-reaching impact on state politics. With Eknath Shinde getting more votes and seats, Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena as part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, is left with limited headroom to maneuver around Marathi-sub-nationalism and Hindutva, the two tenets of Bal Thackeray's politics.

Five months after he was outsmarted by his uncle, NCP's Ajit Pawar struck back to emerge as a strong contender for Sharad Pawar's political legacy. Ajit now has both power and time to consolidate his position.

In Jharkhand, the women-centric schemes appear central to JMM's victory. Two months before the polls were called, Hemant Soren announced Maiya Samman Yojna to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women aged between 21 and 60 years. The polling data showed women outnumbered men in 85% of constituencies. The rest is history.

The Maharashtra and Jharkhand outcomes also bear witness to two remarkable political comebacks — Devendra Fadnavis and Hemant Soren. Fadnavis, cornered within and outside, and demoted to deputy CM in Eknath Shinde's government, emerges as a strong contender for the top post as BJP on its own is short of the halfway mark by just a handful of seats.

With this victory, Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand CM, arrested by ED in a money laundering case earlier this year, cements his position as the JMM founder Shibu Soren's political heir.

Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here

Jharkhand Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here

Bypoll 2024 results | Check Karnataka results here

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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