Assembly Elections: BJP Loses Ground In Maharashtra, Haryana
BJP’s performance in both states was worse than in the previous assembly elections.
A Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will return to power in Maharashtra, albeit with a weaker majority. Haryana, though, is headed for a hung assembly after no one secured a clear majority.
One common thread emerged: the BJP’s performance in both states was worse than in the previous assembly elections in 2014.
In Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance looks set to win 160 out of the 288 seats. That’s lower than the 185 seats they had won last time.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that they will stick to the pre-decided 50:50 power sharing formula with the Sena. He also said that while it won fewer seats, BJP’s strike rate was better this time.
His key ally and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray saw things in a slightly different light. “The mandate will come as an eye-opener for many,” he said in a media conference. “We agreed to contest fewer seats (than the BJP), but I cannot accommodate the BJP every time. I should allow my party to grow.”
In Haryana, the BJP is likely to win 40 seats, lower than last time’s 47. The Congress is likely to get 31 seats, resulting in a hung assembly.
The seven independents and fledgling Dushyant Dave’s Jannayak Janata Party will hold key to who forms the government in the north Indian state.
Despite a drop in the number of seats, the vote share of the BJP went up by over 3 percentage points in Haryana. The BJP has secured 36.48 percent of votes, up from 33.2 percent in the 2014 assembly polls.
However, the saffron party’s share in votes has gone down drastically if the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year are considered. The BJP had led in 79 of the assembly segments during parliamentary polls with nearly 58.02 percent vote share.
The opposition has called it a moral defeat for the BJP claiming that “jingoism does not work when people are living in misery”.
The Indian National Lok Dal has been the biggest loser in terms of vote share. Its vote share dropped to 2.45 percent against 24.11 percent in the 2014 elections.
Watch | Who will be the kingmaker in Haryana.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil and Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray were among the prominent winners in the Maharashtra assembly polls.
Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of Maharashtra, retained his Nagpur South West seat for the fifth consecutive term, while Thackeray, the first member of his family to contest polls, emerged victorious in Worli, central Mumbai.
Former Maharashtra Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan, both Congressmen, won from Bhokar (Nanded district) and Karad South (Satara district), respectively. State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat retained his Sangamner assembly seat in Ahmednagar district for the eight time.
Watch | What Maharashtra election results mean for BJP-Sena alliance.
The verdict came as a surprise as most exit polls had estimated a significantly higher tally for the BJP in the two states.
At least three exit polls had predicted decimation of the opposition in Haryana. One pollster even gave BJP 75 out of 90 seats. In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was expected to win well over 200 seats out of 288, according to an average of five exit polls.