The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put up a stellar performance in the ruling Mahayuti dispensation's expected victory in Maharashtra. The saffron party is on course to win more than 131 seats, emerging as single-largest election in the winning alliance.
The ruling alliance in Maharashtra is leading in over 230 seats against the 51 seats of the oppostion Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Apart from the BJP, the Mahayuti alliance comprises Ajit Pawar-led NCPand Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. As the vote counting proceeds, the Shinde Sena is leading in 53 seats and the NCP-Ajit Pawar was leading on 40 seats.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won the majority in 2019 assembly elections. The BJP won 105 seats, while the Shiv Sena (undivided) grabbed 56 seats. Overall, the two parties won 151 seats in 2019. The BJP had won 122 seats in 2014 assembly elections and 46 seats in 2009 and 54 in 2004.
Here's a look at 5 reasons for the BJP's best-ever performance in Maharashtra:
In the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the BJP lost ground in Maharashtra. It won just nine of the 28 seats it contested in 2024, as against 23 of the 25 seats it contested in the 2019 general elections.
Soon after the drubbing in Lok Sabha, the Eknath Shinde government started the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana targetted at the women’s constituency
The scheme transferred ₹,1500 per month to the accounts of women between 18 and 60 whose annual family income is below ₹2.5 lakh. The beneficiaries recieved the installement of this scheme days ahead of Diwali, which perhaps made a difference.
The Mahayuti promised to raise this amount to ₹2,100 if it returned to power. The welfare pitch targetting women voters was a game changer, according to some political analysts.
Overall, 65.22 per cent of the 47 million women voters voted in Maharashtra elections held on November 20. At least 15 of the state’s 288 assembly constituencies saw more women voters than men. In fact, women's voting turnout saw a 6 per cent rise this time, compared to 2019 elections.
Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath, used slogans like ‘ek hain toh safe hain (together we are safe)” and 'batenge toh katenge (divided we fall) during the campaign. The undelying message of these slogans, despite the controversy, was Hindu unity and OBC consolidation in the ruling alliance's favour.
The slogans, in a way, countered Opposition’s charge that it wanted to end reservation. It also countered the Congress' ‘Constitution is in danger’ slogan, which reportedly helped the MVA do better in the Lok Sabha Election 2024.
The RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP, got involved on ground in Maharashtra after the Lok Sabha debacle. The RSS organised a conclave in Mumbai, which was attended by BJP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Overall, the RSS convened 60,000 small meetings in the state and mobilised the BJP voters to come out and vote.
The RSS, through special 65 friendly organisations, launched a campaign called 'Sajag Raho' - be vigilant, be awake’, bolstering BJP's push in the assembly polls.
The RSS had not been as much on ground in Lok Sabha elections with the BJP reportedly deciding not to field Sangh-recommended candidates in some seats. Worse, BJP President JP Nadda sparked a row when he said, in an interview, that the BJP didn't depend on the RSS.
In June 2022 during political turmoil in Maharashtra, the BJP took a surprising decision and picked Eknath Shinde as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
The decision came after Shinde spearheaded a coup of sorts for the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government by rebelling, along with over 39 party lawmakers, who moved from Mumbai to Surat to Goa and finally back to Mumbai.
Rarely in India's political history has a rebel leader become a chief minister of a state with the support of Opposition party. The decision was perceived as a move to elevate the Shiv Sena leader as an alternative to Uddhav Thackeray. And as things stand on Saturday, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction of Mahayuti was leading on 56 seats as opposed to Thackeray faction's 18 seats.
The Maharashtra election results show that the brand of Prime Minister Modi is still the most powerful ammo that the BJP has in its armory.
The BJP's numbers fell in 2024 Lok Sabha polls compared to 2019 leaving the saffron party dependent on its NDA alliance to form the government. The morale of BJP was, however, bolstered after it won the Haryana assembly elections defying all exit polls.
