INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi's party and its allies returned to power in the nation's richest state, Maharashtra, on Saturday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra with a sweeping victory, while the INDIA bloc, led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), secured a decisive win in Jharkhand state in the east.
In Maharashtra, the BJP and its allies, including chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, won 230 of the state’s 288 assembly seats. The opposition's alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, managed just 46 seats.
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule attributed the landslide win to public support across all sections of society, adding that Congress’s poor performance was due to “lies.” He noted that Congress state chief Nana Patole narrowly retained his seat by a margin of about 200 votes.
Bawankule said the Mahayuti leadership would decide who will serve as Maharashtra’s chief minister, a role currently held by Shinde. The alliance's success means the state assembly will lack a leader of the opposition, as no opposition party secured the minimum 29 seats required to claim the post.
The BJP, which won 125 seats on its own, has announced plans to enrol 1.51 crore new primary members as part of its expansion strategy in Maharashtra.
Opposition allegations
Despite the resounding victory, opposition leaders raised questions about the results. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that there was a “big conspiracy” and that money played a role in the elections.
“This is not a mandate of Marathi ‘manoos’ and farmers. We do not accept this as people’s mandate,” Raut said.
INDIA bloc triumphs in Jharkhand
In Jharkhand, the JMM-led INDIA bloc won 56 of the 81 assembly seats, securing a strong mandate to return to power. The BJP trailed with 27 seats, while Congress won 14, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) secured four, and the CPI-ML gained one seat.
JMM leader and incumbent chief minister Hemant Soren retained his Barhait seat, defeating BJP candidate Gamliyel Hembrom by 39,791 votes. Soren secured 95,612 votes to Hembrom’s 55,821.
A meeting chaired by Soren on Sunday saw the bloc’s winning candidates pledge their support for his leadership. Soren has sought an appointment with the governor to stake his claim to form the government.
Broader implications
The victories in Maharashtra and Jharkhand reflect contrasting political trends. Maharashtra's results solidify the BJP’s dominance in the state and provide a boost to its position nationally, while the INDIA bloc’s success in Jharkhand signals growing regional support for opposition unity.
The BJP's performance in Maharashtra follows its recent win in Haryana, where it achieved a historic third consecutive term. However, it comes after setbacks in the general elections, where the party lost its parliamentary majority, forcing it to rely on allies to form a government.
State elections are critical for shaping the upper house of parliament, as legislative assembly members vote in Rajya Sabha elections. The outcomes in Maharashtra and Jharkhand are expected to influence both local and national politics in the coming months.
(With inputs from agencies)
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