Bhubaneswar: History was made on Saturday. The ruling alliance Mahayuti secured a landslide win at the hustings, just after a bad loss in this year’s Lok Sabha elections in April -May 2024. The Mahayuti has presented the biggest turnaround plan for all – from businesses to political parties.
As per the Election Commission data, the Mahayuti has won/leading in 224 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party has won/leading in 127 seats, Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena won/leading in 56, Ajit Pawar led NCP won/leading in 40 seats and Rashtriya Swabhiman Paksha in 1 seat.
On the contrary, the Maha Vikas Agadhi has won/leading in 54 seats. The Indian National Congress (INC) won/leading in 21, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) in 17 and NCP (Sharad Pawar) in 12, Samajwadi Party in 2 and others 2.
WHY HISTORIC WIN?
A glance at the assembly elections held after the formation of the State of Maharashtra in 1960 reveals big. The first assembly elections to independent State of Maharashtra was held in 1962. In the 1962 elections, Congress had won 215 seats. Noteworthy here, is Congress was the ruling party in 1957 in the Bombay State Legislative Assembly that comprises of the present day Gujarat and Maharashtra.
In the 1967 assembly elections, the tally of Congress dropped to 203. No single party or alliance in independent Maharashtra has touched the magic figure of 220 plus. The list of seats won by winning parties, even in the wake of Emergency wave, Indira Gandhi Assassination or Mumbai blast aftermath, is given below.
- 1972 – Congress – 203
- 1978 – (emergency wave) – Janata Party – 99, Congress U – 69 and Indira Congress – 62
- 1980 – Congress – 186
- 1985 – Congress – 161
- 1990 – Congress – 141
- 1995 – (Mumbai blast aftermath) – Shiv Sena-BJP – 138
- 1999 – Congress could win 75 seats, NCP fought separately won 58, Post poll alliance – 123; Shiv Sena –BJP 127. Post poll alliance catapults Congress-NCP-others to power.
- 2004 – NCP emerged largest party with 71 seats, INC -69, Shiv Sena – BJP won 116 seats. Congress –NCP retained power with 140 seats plus others
- 2009: INC + NCP alliance bagged 144 seats
- 2014 – four cornered contest – BJP topped with 122 seats, Shiv Sena won 63. Both parties fought separately. (Post poll alliance)
- 2019 – BJP Shiv Sena alliance won – 105+56 (161) seats, but Shiv Sena sealed a post poll alliance with UPA to gain power.
