The party’s seat tally dropped dramatically to less than half of what it secured in 2019…reports Asian Lite News
In a significant political shift in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) experienced a major setback in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The party’s seat tally dropped dramatically to less than half of what it secured in 2019, highlighting a substantial erosion of its previous dominance.
The opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar, emerged as the big winner, capturing 30 of the state’s 48 seats.
Despite the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) aiming high with a target of over 45 seats, the actual results fell short, reflecting a significant disconnect between their ambitions and voter sentiment.
By 11:40 PM on the counting day, the BJP had managed to secure only nine seats, a stark contrast to the 23 seats it had won in 2019.
The Shiv Sena, an NDA ally, added seven seats to the tally, while another ally, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, secured one seat.
However, Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, faced a notable defeat in Baramati at the hands of Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar’s daughter.
The Congress party secured nine seats and was leading in four additional constituencies, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) won eight seats and was leading in one. The NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) won five seats and was leading in three.
Vishal Patil, a former Congressman who ran as an independent, won the Sangli seat and indicated his willingness to rejoin the Congress, potentially increasing the MVA’s total to 31 seats.
In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 23 seats in Maharashtra, while the then-undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 seats.
The NCP won four seats, and the Congress managed to win just one seat. This election cycle, the BJP-led NDA’s significant target of 45 seats proved overly optimistic.
Uddhav Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT), announced that the INDIA bloc would convene to decide on their prime ministerial candidate, reflecting the opposition’s strengthened position and readiness to challenge for national leadership.
Thackeray emphasised the electorate’s desire for change, asserting that the opposition should now aim to form the central government.
Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, attributed the NDA’s poor performance to opposition “propaganda” that suggested the BJP would alter the Constitution post-elections.
Acknowledging the defeat, Fadnavis stated on social media platform X that the people’s mandate must be respected, and the NDA would introspect deeply to recover in the next assembly elections.
In a closely contested election, Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar narrowly defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Amol Kirtikar by just 48 votes in Mumbai North West, marking the smallest winning margin in the state.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari secured a decisive victory in Nagpur, defeating Congress candidate Vikas Thakre by 137,603 votes. In Mumbai North, Union Minister Piyush Goyal of the BJP triumphed over Bhushan Patil of Congress by a substantial margin of 356,996 votes.
Other notable results included Congress candidate Varsha Gaikwad winning Mumbai North Central by defeating BJP’s Ujjwal Nikam by 16,514 votes.
In the coastal constituency of Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Union Minister Narayan Rane of the BJP overcame Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vinayak Raut by 47,858 votes.
In Mumbai South, Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Arvind Sawant defeated Shiv Sena’s Yamini Jadhav by 52,673 votes, while in Mumbai South Central, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Anil Desai beat Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale by 53,384 votes.
Further north in Amravati, Congress’s Balwant Wankhade defeated BJP’s Navneet Rana by 19,731 votes. In Dindori, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) candidate Bhaskar Bhagare defeated Union Minister and BJP candidate Bharati Pawar by 113,199 votes.
Lastly, in Kalyan, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son, Shrikant Shinde of Shiv Sena, won against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vaishali Darekar-Rane by a margin of 209,144 votes.
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