• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Sun, 24 Nov 2024 12:32 AM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Maharashtra Election Results 2024: The ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, has registered a landslide victory in Maharashtra by winning 233 of the 288 Assembly seats in the state. The opposition MVA, on the other hand, failed spectacularly in building on to the stellar performance it put up in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha election held earlier this year.

The MVA, a subset of the anti-BJP INDIA bloc, had swept 31 out of 48 parliamentary seats spread across Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha election. However, it faced a huge disappointment on Saturday when its constituent parties emerged victorious on only 49 Assembly seats in Maharashtra. While the Congress, the largest among the MVA constituents, managed to bag only 16 of the 101 seats it contested, its ally Shiv Sena (UBT) fared way better in terms of strike rate, having won 20 of the 95 seats it was allotted.

The NCP-SP, the third major MVA member, also put forth a lacklustre show by winning 10 seats. However, the Sharad Pawar-led party was also the one, among the three major MVA partners, that fielded the least number of candidates as part of the seat-sharing agreement. In the Mahayuti, the BJP contested 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP fielded candidates in 59 constituencies.

MAHARASHTRA RESULT 2024: MAHAYUTI CANDIDATES SHINE

The Mahayuti saw each of its constituent parties register phenomenal strike rates -- BJP (89 per cent), Shiv Sena (70 per cent), NCP (69 per cent). This resounding mandate also reflected in the performance of as many as 15 Mahayuti candidates when they breached the 1-lakh victory margin threshold. No candidate belonging to any of the MVA parties could manage to achieve this feat.

The 15 candidates who defeated their closest rivals by at least one lakh votes comprised eight from the BJP, four from the NCP and three from the Shiv Sena. In fact, Shinde and Ajit themselves found themselves in this exclusive club after winning from their respective strongholds of Kopri-Pachpakhadi and Baramati.

Ajit Pawar defeated his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar by 1,00,899 votes in a fiercely contested battle for a seat that used to be the undivided NCP's bastion. Baramati is also a personal stronghold for Ajit as he has served as its MLA for seven consecutive terms (including a byelection) since 1991. He polled 1,81,132 votes this time.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Kashiram Vechan Pawara won from Shirpur by a margin of 1,45,944 votes. In Satara, Shivendraraje Bhonsale, another saffron party candidate, defeated his closest competitor by 1.42 lakh votes.

Other BJP candidates who won with more than one lakh votes are Kewalram Kale (1,06,859 votes from Melghat), Dilip Borse (1,29,297 votes from Baglan), Sanjay Upadhyay (1,00,257 votes from Borivali), Shankar Jagtap (1,03,865 votes from Chinchwad), Chandrakant Patil (1,12,041 votes from Kothrud) and Krishan Khopde (1,15,288 votes from Nagpur East).

Sunil Shelke (1,08,565 votes from Maval), Ashutosh Kale (124,624 votes from Kopargaon), and Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde (140,224 votes from Parli) were others from Ajit Pawar's party who managed to get into the 1-lakh victory margin club.

CM Shinde won from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi Assembly constituency with a margin of 1,59,060 votes, while his party's candidate from Ovala-Majiwada constituency Pratap Sarnaik won by 1,08,158 votes. Shinde's cabinet colleague Dada Bhuse won from Malegaon Outer constituency by 1,06,606 votes.

(With inputs from PTI)