As counting of votes continues in the keenly contested Maharashtra assembly polls, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has made a strong start by clinching 5 out of the 6 seats in Mumbai. The Congress has also emerged as the single largest party in the state so far.
In Mumbai, the Congress won the Mumbai North Central seat while the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged Mumbai North East, Mumbai North West, Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central constituencies.
The BJP managed to open its account by winning Mumbai North through its debutant candidate Piyush Goyal. However, the party has sought a recount in the Mumbai North West seat.
As per the latest trends from the Election Commission, the MVA alliance of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP is leading in a total of 25 seats across Maharashtra. The Congress itself is ahead in 12 seats, emerging as the largest party.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is leading in 7 seats while the NCP (Sharad Pawar) is ahead in 6 constituencies.
On the other hand, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP has won 6 seats so far and is leading in 12 more.
The BJP has bagged 3 seats – Palghar, Satara and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg where Union Minister Narayan Rane won on his Lok Sabha debut. Ajit Pawar’s NCP has won the lone seat of Raigad that it contested.
In some key battles, NCP’s Supriya Sule is leading by a huge margin over her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar in Baramati. However, BJP’s Pankaja Munde is trailing in the family bastion of Beed.
Candidates in several seats like Jalgaon, Raver, Osmanabad, Kalyan, Thane and Nandurbar have established formidable leads of over 1 lakh votes.
As official counting progresses, the performance of the MVA and NDA alliances in the remaining seats will determine who has the upper hand in forming the next government in one of India’s most industrialized states.
