The MahaYuti alliance comprising BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP was leading in 216 Assembly seats, crossing the halfway mark of 145 in the 288-member state Assembly as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) data.
The trends showed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress, Shiv Sena(UBT) and NCP(SP) were likely to head for a historic rout if the trends continued.
BJP, which is a big brother in the MahaYuti, is leading in 125 of the 148 seats it contested, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena was ahead in 56 and Ajit Pawar-led NCP was leading in 35 seats.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi was trailing badly despite their efforts to give a tough fight to the MahaYuti bringing their campaign to core issues.
As per the present trends, MahaYuti seems to have weathered the anti-incumbency by cashing in on the populist slogans and freebies. including Ladki Bahin Yojana and also on the charisma and popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In addition, BJP, which is contesting 148 seats, got a booster dose from the RSS and its affiliated organisations further strengthening the party.
On the other hand, Maha Vikas Aghadi, which was confident of repeating its Lok Sabha performance during the Assembly elections, failed to create magic due to internal differences and cracks among the partners over seat-sharing.
Despite whirlwind tours and mega rallies by Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi, the Maha Vikas Aghadi seems to have failed miserably to checkmate the MahaYuti while catching the undercurrent against it. They made all efforts to flag off the rising crime, unemployment, inflation and deteriorating finances, but the voters did not go by their campaign as they were happy with the dole-outs given by the MahaYuti government.
Those who are currently leading include Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, DyCM Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Shiv Sena(UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, NCP Ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, BJP Minister Chandrakant Patil, BJP nominees Shivendraraje Bhosale, Shiv Sena nominee Prakash Abitkar, NCP nominee Sunil Shake, BJP nominees Anup Agarwal from Dhule, Kashiram Pawara from Shirpur, Ram Bhadane from Dhule rural and Jaikumar Rawal from Sindkheda constituency.
Further, BJP Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is leading from the Shirdi constituency, BJP’s Subhash Deshmukh, NCP nominees Sunil Tingre, Chetan Tupe and Sunil Shelke are leading against their rivals.
(IANS)
