BJP, Cong have highest stakes in polls, to clash in 74 seats

MUMBAI: While the narrative of the state assembly polls centres on Eknath Shinde versus Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar versus Sharad Pawar, the real contest on the ground is primarily between the two national parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The stakes are much higher for these parties considering their importance in national politics, and that they are contesting the maximum number of seats within their respective alliances – the Mahayuti and Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The BJP and Congress are going head-to-head in 74 seats, of the total 288 across the state.
The results in these seats will, in fact, shape the future of Maharashtra’s politics, with the BJP going all out to recover from its setback in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The Congress is trying hard to maintain its stellar performance by making an effort to corner the Mahayuti government.
During the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won 13 seats of the 17 seats it had contested, while the BJP dropped to nine seats from the 23 it had won in 2019.
In the Lok Sabha election, both parties clashed in 15 seats. Of these, the BJP could win only four — Akola, Nagpur, Mumbai North and Pune, whereas the Congress registered victory in 11 constituencies: Nandurbar, Dhule, Amravati, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North- Central, Latur and Solapur.
Keshav Upadhye, BJP spokesperson, blamed the alleged fake narrative created by the Congress for its poor performance. “They had created a narrative over changing the Constitution and subsequently removing reservations, which has been exposed by us. Rahul Gandhi’s statement on reservations shows their real side. The people have learnt the truth, and we believe the party will come back with a large number of seats once again,” Upadhye said.
Atul Londhe, chief spokesperson, Congress, responded, saying that the people of the state are waiting for November 20 to vote the BJP-led government out of power. “They have cheated the youth, women and farmers of the state. No employment for youth, rising crime against women, and no support to deal with the agrarian crisis. Soybean prices have drastically fallen, to ₹3,600 per quintal, which is ₹1,200 per quintal lesser than the minimum support price. People are desperately waiting to remove this government,” Londhe remarked.
The Maharashtra assembly has a total 288 seats, of which the BJP is contesting 148 and the Congress 103. These figures indicate that the performance of both parties will play a decisive role in the formation of the next government, according to poll pundits. “The strike rate of the Congress was its recent best in the Lok Sabha elections. If the party manages to maintain the same strike rate, it will make things very difficult for the BJP,” said Abhay Deshpande, political analyst. He also pointed out that the Congress surge in the Lok Sabha polls was based on its stellar performance in the Vidarbha region, which has become a BJP bastion in the last decade. “Deshpande was referring to the fact that both parties are confronting each other in 35 seats in Vidarbha, a region that has 62 assembly seats.
Within each party, several senior leaders are also gunning for the top spot. Many are being considered as chief ministerial candidates. Among them are Devendra Fadnavis, Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Vijay Wadettiwar.
Fadnavis, the first BJP chief minister of Maharashtra, is contesting from Nagpur South-West against the Congress’s Praful Gudadhe. Patole is running for the Sakoli seat against the BJP’s Avinash Brahmankar. Thorat is looking for a ninth term against Shiv Sena candidate Amol Khatal from Sangamner; Vikhe-Patil is facing the Congress’ Prabhavati Ghogare for Shirdi; while Wadettiwar is being confronted by BJP candidate Krishnalal Sahare for the Brahmapuri seat.
In the last assembly elections held in 2019, the BJP had emerged as the number-one party by winning 105 and the Congress 56. In less than a month, we’ll know where each party stands.