Editorial: Maharashtra mandate

The stunning comeback of BJP demonstrates its dominance of Maharashtra’s political landscape

It’s Mahayuti’s maha tsunami in Maharashtra. The reasons for the landslide victory of the BJP-led alliance are not far to seek: Blending welfarism with social engineering, making timely course corrections in political strategies, sustained focus on micro-management of local issues and near-perfect coordination among the allies. On the other hand, the Congress and its allies failed to present a cohesive and compelling alternative to voters, neglected local farmers’ issues but kept harping on themes like “samvidhan khatre mein hai” and “Adani-Ambani-Modi nexus” that did not find any resonance with voters and were unable to check infighting over sharing of power. The scale of the mandate highlighted the sharp contrast in performances of the two formations — Mahayuti comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress, NCP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. While the saffron party-led alliance beat the anti-incumbency factor and pulled off an unprecedented win to return to power for the third consecutive term, the opposition bloc suffered its worst drubbing across the regions. In fact, the BJP on its own has bagged more seats than the MVA partners put together. The resounding mandate proved particularly sweet for the saffron party because it had suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha elections, less than six months ago, when it managed to win only 17 of the State’s 48 seats. The stunning comeback — winning 132 Assembly seats out of 149 it contested — demonstrated the party’s total dominance of Maharashtra’s political landscape, relegating the formidable regional parties to insignificant positions.

Apart from scoring a hat trick of Assembly poll victories — crossing 100 seats each time —, the BJP has won its biggest mandate with over 88% strike rate. The opposition alliance suffered a humiliating rout, ending up with a tally of 46 in the 288-member Assembly while the Mahayuti alliance touched 230, a first for any ruling formation in the State. The Congress put up its worst-ever performance in its one-time bastion with just 16 seats out of 100 it contested. Maharashtra voters have also given a clear verdict on who should inherit the political legacy of Shiv Sena founder Bala Saheb Thackery. Shinde has trumped Uddhav in this legacy battle and established his hold on the traditional Sena vote bank. The game changer for the Mahayuti was undoubtedly the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme — providing Rs 1,500 per month to every woman in Maharashtra — which resonated strongly with women voters. Effective coordination among alliance leaders Devendra Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar, meticulous planning and sharply focused campaign strategies and bringing various OBC groups together to counter the Maratha quota movement helped the ruling alliance achieve sweeping victory. With this emphatic mandate, the BJP is expected to claim the Chief Minister’s post and will have the flexibility to run the State without depending on its allies.

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