Mumbai: Neither the farmers’ distress nor the looming concerns of drought in Maharashtra has deterred the people from voting the BJP-Shiv Sena combine back in the state. The trends, which are now (around 6 pm) more or less definitive in the state, show the saffron parties making a clean sweep in the state, winning in around 41 seats – BJP in 23 seats and Sena in 18.
The NCP has managed to retain four of its seats, although not all of those from 2014. The Congress, however, has been routed in the Lok Sabha election, managing to retain only one seat in the state. The AIMIM and an independent candidate have been ahead in one seat each.
Soon after the trends became clear, the state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed a press conference in Mumbai and called the victory a “tsunami”. “The ‘Modi wave’ of the 2014 polls turned into a ‘tsunami’ this time,” he said.
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The Congress-NCP, when it decided to come together in this election, was hopeful of winning double-digit seats. Its dreams have come down crashing with Thurday’s results.
The biggest jolt came for Congress in Nanded, where former CM Ashok Chavan lost his seat to BJPs Prataprao Patil. In 2014, despite the “Modi wave”, Chavan had managed to retain this seat. In Solapur, former Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has been trailing.
The past five years have been a dramatic time for the state, hit by rural distress, unemployment and drought. The condition, especially in the state’s Marathwada and Vidarbha region, is concerning as the farmers distress is at all-time high. But ironically, the farmers’ leader Raju Shetti has been voted out from his strong hold Hatkanangle seat in western Maharashtra.
The newly floated Vanchit Bahujan Party by anti-caste leader Prakash Ambedkar has managed to be in the third position in most seats. While the critics have accused VBA of eating into the Congress-NCP’s vote, after a long time Maharashtra has had such a dynamic anti-caste political equation. Almost all its candidates belong to marginalised communities.
Ambedkar, who contested from two seats – his stronghold Akola and Solapur – finished in second and third position respectively.
The surprise, however, was AIMIM candidate Imtiyaz Jaleel’s surge in the Aurangabad seat. He has been fighting neck and neck with four-time parliamentarian Chandrakant Khaire. Jaleel was leading ahead of Khaire with a vote margin of less than 600 votes at 6 pm.
Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi. Credit: PTI/Files
In western Maharashtra, which was once considered to be Sharad Pawar’s den, the BJP and Sena candidates are all set to win Pune and Maval seats respectively, while NCP’s candidates are leading in Baramati and Shirur. Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule has been leading with over one lakh vote in the Baramati constituency. In Maval, however, Pawar’s grand-nephew Parth Pawar is trailing by more than one lakh votes.
The opposition alliance, which was banking on the perceived anti-incumbency against the BJP government in the state, failed to cash in on the opportunity. Even the infighting between the BJP and Shiv Sena at the ground level during the campaign did not seem to have helped the parties. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray did not field any candidate in the state. However, he was seen campaigning across the state against the Modi government. He, supposedly at the behest of Pawar, addressed over a dozen rallies across the state debunking myths spread by the Modi government. Thackeray’s attempt too seems to have failed.
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In Mumbai’s six constituencies, the BJP- Sena juggernaut continued to dominate, managing to take a comfortable lead in all seats. Actress and Congress’s Mumbai North candidate Urmila Matondkar, who was seen campaigning through the month in her constituency, has been left far behind BJP’s Gopal Shetty. In 2014, Shetty won with a margin of 3.8 lakh votes. This time, the margin is over 4.5 lakh.
Speaking to the media, Matondkar said, “I am going to continue in politics, as I’ve been saying from day one. This has been an absolute glorious battle for me. I am standing defeated in front of you but do I look like a lost person?”
The endorsement from India’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani did not seem to have worked for Congress’s Mumbai South candidate Milind Deora, who is set to lose the seat to the sitting MP and Sena’s candidate Arvind Sawant. Deora was trailing by over a lakh votes at 6 pm.