With half a dozen major players creating divisions in the Shiv Sena and NCP, a fragmented government, the Maratha quota and a spirited opposition, Maharashtra will see an exciting contest in the assembly polls amid dramatic changes since the last election.
Elections to the 288-member assembly, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh (403), will be held on November 20 in the first phase and the counting of votes will be on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
The Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, necessitated by the death of Congress MP Vasant Chavan, will also be held on November 20.
The Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde implemented a flagship scheme, the Ladki Bahin Yojana, where poor women get a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500, to woo voters after the bloc’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Rs 46,000 crore a year welfare scheme is widely seen as a “game changer” for the ruling bloc that includes the BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the NCP led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who joined the government more than a year ago. after parting ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar.
The government’s target is to cover 2.5 crore beneficiaries under the scheme. There are about 4.5 crore women voters in Maharashtra.
Mahayuti (Grand Alliance) is in a direct fight with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a country where the split in the main parties and realignment in the last five years has caused a tectonic change in the political dynamics.
The MVA consists of the Congress faction, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by veteran politician Sharad Pawar.
MVA and Mahayuti have not yet announced their seat sharing deal.
The next assembly polls, the first since the split between the Shiv Sena in 2022 and the NCP a year later, will be a test of strength for the two main alliances and will also show the ability of individual constituencies to transfer votes. .
Although the Lok Sabha elections saw the ruling alliance (which won 17 out of 48 seats) suffer a shake-up and the opposition MVA (30 seats) perform well, the assembly polls will be a different political ball game as at the state and local levels. issue will dominate the campaign.
Maharashtra’s political climate has never been fractured, with six major parties vying for influence: BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).
This fragmentation is a product of recent political upheavals, including the collapse of the MVA government and the emergence of new political factions. The past five years have been unprecedented in Maharashtra politics – the collapse of pre-poll alliances, three regimes, including a three-day government, split into two main parties with the Election Commission recognizing the groups as “real”.
The killing of former state minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique on Dussehra (October 12) raised concerns over law and order and was an embarrassment to the Mahayuti government ahead of the elections.
The opposition was quick to target the government, particularly Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, over the killings and highlight the problems of security and public governance.
In the last two weeks, the Shinde government has taken a staggering 1,500 decisions, including around 160 in state cabinet meetings. This includes toll waiver for light motor vehicles at all five entry points into Mumbai.
Despite reports that Ajit Pawar might walk out of the ruling alliance, he has remained firm. Maharashtra saw a change in governance in June 2022 when the MVA government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray collapsed following a rebellion in the Shiv Sena party.
Shinde later succeeded Thackeray as CM with BJP support.
Assembly polls 2019 changed some dynamics. First, the pre-poll alliance between the Shiv Sena-BJP is rocking over the chief ministerial issue. Later, Shiv Sena joined hands with traditional rivals Congress and NCP to form the government under the leadership of Thackeray.
Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan said the BJP is facing erosion in its voter base, while the old party has gained public trust by raising key issues such as agrarian distress, unemployment and inflation.
Mahajan insisted that the Congress was not satisfied after its encouraging Lok Sabha polls – the party won 13 seats in Maharashtra – and continued to highlight pro-people issues.
He said the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg district, poor law and order situation, Maratha quota and agrarian distress were some of the issues highlighted by the opposition.
The demand for Maratha quota, the issue that undermined Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha polls, continues to resonate with a significant voter base, according to analysts.
In 2019, the BJP won 105 seats, making it the single largest party, while its ally Shiv Sena won 56. The Congress and its ally NCP contested 125 seats and won 44 and 54, respectively.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from the feed of syndicated news agency – PTI)
