Twitter
Advertisement

All eyes on Maharashtra, Haryana Assembly election results today; NDA looks to repeat win, Opposition hopes for comeback

The stage is set for the public mandate.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Knocking on the door is the public mandate to Maharashtra, Haryana state assemblies, bypolls to 51 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats spread across 18 states, as the counting for votes in all these seats is scheduled to start at 8 AM on Thursday, i.e. October 24. The voting for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and 90-member Haryana Assembly, as well the bypolls took place in single-phase election on Monday, i.e. October 21.

Maharashtra: Fight for the 288-member Assembly

In Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were among the top leaders who campaigned in the state where abrogation of Article 370 and the slowing economy were among the top issues. 

Fadnavis alone held nearly 225 public rallies before and after the model code of conduct came into effect following the Election Commission of India's announcement of poll schedule on September 21. Fadnavis had held 160 rallies as part of his 'Mahajanadesh Yatra' which he undertook as part of his statewide tour while 65 rallies by him were held after the poll announcement.

The BJP contested the state polls in an alliance - Mahayuti - with Shiv Sena and some other smaller allies. The BJP had fielded candidates on 150 seats, Sena contested 124 seats while 14 seats had gone to smaller allies including the RPI-A.

As for the Shiv Sena, this is the first time that a member of the Thackeray family contested an election. Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, contested from the Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai. 

The ruling alliance's main adversary is the "maha-aghadi", led by the Congress and the NCP. The Congress had fielded 147 candidates and the ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 121.

The opposition's campaign never really gained momentum with Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar addressing some odd number of rallies. The Congress-NCP campaign was mostly led by the candidates and any fighting chance of the alliance depends on the strength of the local campaign. 

In the few rallies addressed by Rahul Gandhi, he highlighted issues like the economic slowdown, unemployment, demonetisation exercise and GST rollout. 

There were a total of 3237 candidates, including 235 women, in the fray.

In 2014 Assembly election in Maharashtra, the BJP was the single largest with 122 seats, while Shiv Sena managed to win 63 seats. The Congress won 42 seats in 2014, while Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) emerged victorious on 41 seats. 

The bypoll for Satara Lok Sabha constituency, which was won by the NCP in the general elections in May, were also held on October 21. Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Shivaji Maharaj, who won on the NCP ticket, had later quit the party to join the BJP. While the BJP fielded Bhosale for the bypoll, the NCP placed its bets on Shriniwas Patil.

The big names whose fate will be decided on Thursday are sitting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South-West, former chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan. Ashok Chavan is in the fray from Bhokar in Nanded district, while Prithviraj contested from Karad South in Satara district.

 

Haryana: 90 Assembly seats, the fate of over 1100 candidates to be decided

In Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, JJP's Dushyant Chautala and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala  were among the top leaders who campaigned in Haryana where abrogation of Article 370 and the slowing economy dominated the poll campaign along with some local issues. 

While the BJP campaign-led by Prime Minister Modi himself focused on abrogation of Article 370, the opposition Congress and other parties attacked the ruling party over unemployment, slowing economy and Khattar government's failure of keeping the promises. 

Opposition parties witnessed mass exodus ahead of the elections with several Congress leaders switching allegiance. Former Congress chief Ashok Tanwar quit the party and announced his support to the JJP and even campaigning for Dushyant Chautala-led outfit. 

There are over 1.83 crore voters of which 83 lakh are women. The Election Commission of India had set up 19,578 polling stations, 13,837 of which were in rural areas. There were 1,169 candidates, including 105 women, in the fray for 90 assembly seats.

In the last polls held in 2014, the BJP had won 47 seats and added one more seat after winning Jind bypoll earlier this year. The INLD had won 19 seats in the assembly while the Congress had 15 legislators.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had bagged one seat each while five Independents were also victorious.

Some big names whose fate will be decided on Thursday include incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Congress CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, JJP leader Dushyant Chautala and INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala.

 

Bypolls: 51 Assembly seats, 2 Lok Sabha constituencies

The results of bye-election in 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies will also be declared on Thursday. The BJP and its allies won 30 of these assembly seats, while the Congress held just 12 seats.

The counting will be held for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, six in Gujarat, five in Bihar, four in Assam and two each in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It is to be noted that all these states are currently ruled by BJP and its allies.

The other states which witnessed bye-election on Monday were Punjab (4 seats), Kerala (5 seats), Sikkim (3 seats), Rajasthan (2 seats) and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Telangana. Counting of votes for bypoll in Maharashtra's Satara and Bihar's Samastipur Lok Sabha seats will also be held on Thursday (October 24). 

In Uttar Pradesh, the bye-election witnessed a four-cornered contest with the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress fielding candidates on all 11 seats. In Gujarat, bypoll were held on six seats and out of these six seats four were with the BJP and two with the Congress.

Counting is also scheduled to take place for Khonsa West seat in Arunachal Pradesh, Chitrakot in Chhattisgarh, Huzurnagar in Telangana, Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and Shella in Meghalaya. In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) had won four seats while one seat was held by Congress.

 

(With Zee Media Newsroom inputs)

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement