Maharashtra Elections 2024: Congress's score lower than Lok ...
Congress, which contested in 101 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024 as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, is currently leading on 20 seats. The figures are even lower than the 44 seats that it won in the 2019 Maharashtra elections, while contesting in 147 seats.
As per the MVA seat-sharing agreement, 101 seats were allotted to the Congress. while Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) contested in 95 and 86 seats, respectively. The party had fielded candidates in 101 of the 288 constituencies.
The latest counting trends shows Mahayuti is set for a landslide in the Maharashtra elections with BJP bettering its score compared to the Lok Sabha elections. While the Mahayuti is leading in over 200 seats, BJP is ahead in 125 seats. It had fielded 149 candidates.
On the other hand, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is leading in only 60 seats in a somewhat embarrassing show after a steller performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
“Maharashtra certainly hasn’t gone our way, we are disappointed with what we are seeing in Maharashtra. We will go back to the drawing board, we will learn our lessons and we are reasonably confident that we will be able to deliver once again in Maharashtra...” Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said on poll trends.
As per the trends, MVA seems to have failed to gathered enough votes despite focusing on farmers’ issue, which it hoped would create a major dent to the ruling coalition. But the trends indicate this has not been the case and that the farm distress narrative, which the party was banking on heavily, had little impact.
Congress is again in distress after getting a fresh breather in the Lok Sabha polls in which it reduced BJP’s tally from 303 to 240 denting its morale.
BJP performed strongly in the Vidarbha region with the party contesting the highest number of seats (47) in the region, which is home to a large chunk of both large- and small-scale farmers.
On the other hand, after Lok Sabha drubbing the BJP-led Mahayuti focused its concentration on consolidating its OBC vote bank that was highly alienated over the reservation issue.
Moreover, women voters also seem to have overwhelmingly voted for the Mahayuti, which heavily banked on the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana that offers financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to over 2.4 crore women.
For Congress, a victory in the Maharashtra would have given it the much needed political heft and resources to keep its position as the head of the INDIA bloc following its drubbing in Haryana.
