Maharashtra polls: BJP's vote share double than 2009

The BJP may have fallen short of the majority mark in Maharashtra but its vote share nearly doubled in the just-held Assembly polls compared to that in 2009. The party, which contested this election after parting ways with its 25-year-old ally Shiv Sena, recorded a huge jump in its tally of seats from 46 to 122 in a five-cornered contest. However, it stopped short of the majority figure of 145 by 23 seats. At the same time, it registered a vote share of 27.8% against 14.02% in 2009, according to Election Commission data.

In the May Lok Sabha elections, when it was in alliance with Shiv Sena and fought against Congress-NCP combine, the BJP got 27.3 % of the votes to bag 23 of the 48 seats at stake. In the case of BJP's erstwhile ally Shiv Sena, a 3% rise from 16.26% to 19.4% was enough to nearly double its seats to 63 from 33 in 2009. The Sena polled 20.6% to get 18 seats.

For Congress, a 3% swing in votes against it cost it 40 seats. As against 21.01% in 2009, Congress got a vote share of 17.9% this time while its seat tally dropped hugely from 82 to 42. In the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress polled 18.1% votes but got only two seats. The vote share of Congress' erstwhile ally NCP rose marginally to 17.3 % from 16.37 % but that did not translate into more seats.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP won 41 seats as against 62 in the previous elections. It had bagged four seats in Lok Sabha polls with a vote share of 16%. The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) secured 3.1% of the votes but could get only one seat. In these assembly polls, 4,119 candidates were in the fray. BJP had fielded 280 candidates, Congress 287, NCP 282, Shiv Sena 282, BSP 260, MNS 219, CPI 34 and CPM 19.