The BJP-led Mahayuti stormed back to power in Maharashtra with a historic landslide that saw it on course to get over 230 seats in the 288-member Assembly while utterly crushing the MVA, which was reduced to less than 50 seats, while in Jharkhand the JMM became the first party to retain power for a second consecutive term.
The BJP was also to win the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra and dominated the bypolls to 48 Assembly constituencies in 14 states by sweeping Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand besides winning a major chunk of the seats in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. However, it faced setbacks in Karnataka, Punjab, and West Bengal and was split honours with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
There was some consolation for the INDIA bloc at this point, which was that it held Jharkhand, whereas for the Congress, there was reason to be happy since General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi won her maiden election from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, and the party also succeeded in securing all three Assembly by-elections in Karnataka, defeating one seat both from the BJP and the Janata Dal-Secular. The Trinamool Congress won all six Assembly by-elections in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nine rallies across Maharashtra and his slogan of “ek hai toh safe hai” appear to have worked magic for the BJP, which was set to win 133 seats in the sprawling western state, while its major allies, the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party of Ajit Pawar, were likely to end up with 57 and 41, respectively.
The Mahayuti's unprecedented triumph may spell curtains for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-UBT and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party which were utterly demolished by their Mahayuti rivals. Even the Congress was badly singed, with its state chief Nana Patole himself losing the election, though by 660 votes odd.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) also failed to open its account, despite all its hyperbole.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP, said the people of Maharashtra have given a verdict against the poisonous propaganda by electing those fighting against false narratives and that the state's people solidly back the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chief Minister Shinde, accompanied by his deputies Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, thanked the common man for MahaYuti’s resounding performance while accepting the development politics and welfare schemes, rejecting the anti-growth and negative politics. He said that three parties will sit together and make a decision on the Chief Minister’s post.
Terming the poll performance ‘’historical,’’ he said: ‘’We have won the minds and not the votes of people."
NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said, "This victory is a reflection of the people's trust in the developmental work done by the government and the capable leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at the Centre.". This effort of the past two and half years put in by Chief Minister Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis, and each leader and worker of the alliance has yielded fruits, added the chief minister.
A stunned Shiv Sena-UBT President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray said it was like tsunami swept away Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), but felt that 'there is some kind of 'gadbad' here.
"It was not just a wave, but a tsunami… This was beyond all expectations… Some say it's the victory of the EVMs… Maybe. But if it's also acceptable to the masses then we have nothing to add," he told media persons.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the MVA's drubbing in Maharashtra as "unexpected" and assured supporters that the party would undertake a serious analysis of the adverse outcome.
The BJP victory in Maharashtra is likely to embolden the NDA to take on the opposition in the coming Winter session of Parliament.
In Jharkhand, though, Hemant Soren braved anti-incumbency and an unrelenting BJP assault to emerge victorious with a wider margin against the 47 seats in the 81-member house won in 2019. His Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bagged 34 seats on its own, while allies Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist-Liberation bagged 14, four, and two, respectively.
Hemant Soren thanked the people of the state following a decisive victory for his party and its allies in the Assembly elections.
"We are going to create the history of 'Abua Raj, Abua Sarkar' (Our rule, our government) in Jharkhand," he told media persons.
"This was a landmark election. People would never have seen such an election in the state's democratic journey. We have successfully passed the test of democracy," he said.
Meanwhile, with Priyanka Gandhi entering the Lok Sabha, it will be the first time that the Parliament boasts three Nehru-Gandhi family members: Priyanka joins her brother Rahul Gandhi, former Wayanad MP and now Rae Bareli representative, and mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi.
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