Counting of votes in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections, and bypolls in several states has begun. In early leads, NDA seems set for a landslide win while INDIA has surged ahead in Jharkhand.
Nearly three hours into the counting of votes for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections, NDA seems set for a landslide win in Maharashtra, while INDIA appears to have pulled off a stunner in Jharkhand.
BJP alliance is ahead in 221 seats, while MVA is leading in 55 seats.
Most exit polls predicted a Mahayuti win in Maharashtra. Three exit polls have, however, forecast neither the Mahayuti nor the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would secure a decisive majority to form government. But the numbers so far show a clear mandate for the NDA.
In Mahayuti, the BJP contested the largest number of seats at 148, followed by the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at 80, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at 52. Mahayuti candidates are contesting in six more seats. In the Opposition MVA, the Congress contested 102 seats, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) 96 seats, and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) 86 seats. Two seats were contested by Samajwadi Party and two seats by smaller MVA allies.
This was the first election after splits in the NCP and the Shiv Sena. In the 2019 elections, BJP won 105 seats, the undivided Shiv Sena 56, undivided NCP 54, Congress 44, independents 13 and others 16 seats. The results today will have huge implications for all the parties, particularly NCP and Shiv Sena.