NDA comfortably ahead in Maharashtra, INDIA leads in Jharkhand
The counting of votes for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024 is underway. As of 10:50am, the Mahayuti alliance was ahead in 221 seats in Maharashtra, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was leading on 55 seats. In Jharkhand, INDIA made a stunning u-turn to take the lead. It was leading on 51 seats against the NDA's 28. Maharashtra, which has 288 seats, voted on November 20, while Jharkhand, with 81 assembly seats, voted on November 13 and 20.
Key political battles in Maharashtra and Jharkhand
In Maharashtra, the political contest is mainly between the ruling Mahayuti alliance—consisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena—and the opposition MVA alliance. The MVA comprises Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar's NCP, and the Congress. In Jharkhand, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance is pitted against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) opposition.
Exit polls predict tight race in Maharashtra, Jharkhand
Most exit polls indicate a close contest in Maharashtra with a slight edge for the Mahayuti alliance. Four major exit polls, C-Voter, P-Marq, Dainik Bhaskar, and Lokshahi Marathi-Rudra, however, indicate that neither the Mahayuti nor the MVA are likely to obtain a clear majority, implying a hung Assembly. In Jharkhand, most exit polls predict a win for the BJP-led alliance. However, one poll indicates a potential victory for Chief Minister Hemant Soren's JMM-led coalition.
MVA won 31 of 48 seats in general election
The MVA won 31 of the 48 seats in the general election, while Mahayuti was limited to only 17. The results were a setback for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which had managed to achieve the top spot in the state assembly following several political realignments. In Jharkhand, the JMM-Congress partnership hopes to retain power by capitalizing on the Soren government's accomplishments and strengthening support among tribal voters, while the BJP is seeking a comeback following a successful performance in Haryana.
Bypoll results 2024
Along with the two states' vote counting, the counting of votes for byelections was also underway. Byelections were held in 48 assembly seats in 14 states over the past few weeks, including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Elections were also held for two Lok Sabha seats: Kerala's Wayanad, which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is contesting, and Maharashtra's Nanded.
