Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) dominated Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena, Congress has virtually no electoral presence in 15 of the 36 districts in the state of Maharashtra. It is rather ironic that the ‘three penny opera’ in act since the 2019 assembly elections has a ‘no show’ in almost half of the state which it has been ruling for the past 100 days.
Of the three, the Sena has no presence in six districts of – Nandurbar, Washim, Gondiya, Beed and Latur. The NCP has no electoral presence in five districts of – Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Wardha and Chandrapur. The Congress has no electoral presence in four districts of – Akola, Beed, Thane and Ratnagiri. As against this the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no electoral presence in just Ratnagiri district.
Both the Congress and the NCP regained most of their lost ground in Western Maharashtra largely due to the politics over the floods last year in Kolhapur and Sangli districts and the Maratha community quota stir. The NCP gained seven seats in Pune district and in the process increased its tally of 3 seats in 2014 polls to 10 seats in 2019 polls.
The NCP retained its two seats in Kolhapur district and added one more seat to its tally in Sangli district. The NCP increased its 2014 poll tally of 16 seats to 21 seats in 2019 polls in Western Maharashtra. Similarly, the NCP increased its tally in Khandesh region (North Maharashtra) by five seats and increased its tally from 8 seats in 2014 to 13 seats in 2019 polls.
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Like the NCP, the Congress too gained at the expense of the BJP in Vidarbha and at the expense of the Sena in Western Maharashtra. The Congress gained five seats in Vidarbha and in the process increased its tally from 10 seats in 2014 polls to 15 seats in the 2019 polls. In Western Maharashtra too, the Congress gained three seats and in the process increased its tally from seven seats to 10 seats in 2019 polls. From Zero seats in 2014, the Congress won four seats in Kolhapur district and gained one seat in Sangli district.
The poor electoral performance of the BJP in Vidarbha and that of the Sena in Western Maharashtra, gave the Congress and the NCP a new lease of life. The BJP which was banking on the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), failed to deliver. The fact bears testimony – out of the 236 seats that the VBA contested, its candidates lost their election deposits in 222 seats. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) too failed to come to the rescue of the BJP by breaching the Sena vote bank in any significant way.,
At the hindsight it does appear that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Musalmeen (MIM) did a wise thing in calling of its alliance with the VBA. While the VBA could not win a single seat, the MIM, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) and Prahar Janashakti Party (PHJSP) too managed to win modest two to three seats. Like the VBA, the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP-I) has been wiped out of its electoral presence in its Raigad district home turf in this 2019 polls.
What is alarming to note here is that the Congress does not dominate electorally in any of the districts in the state. The NCP at least dominates electorally in Pune district. Worrying signs for both the BJP and the Sena is that both the Congress and NCP appear to have electorally rejuvenated themselves in Khandesh, Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha regions.
