Mumbai: In a remarkable change in fortunes, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance suffered a devastating defeat in the Maharashtra Assembly polls after getting the better of the Mahayuti alliance in Lok Sabha elections five months ago.
The ruling Mahayuti coalition of BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) are set to sweep Maharashtra with a three-fourths majority – 234 out of 288 seats. BJP alone was close to attaining majority of its own, with 132 seats.
The MVA, made up of Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and NCP (Sharad Pawar), have been reduced to around 50.
Struggling to come to terms with the massive loss, MVA offered several excuses.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leader Sanjay Raut alleged a “big conspiracy” behind BJP’s victory, seeing billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s hand in Mahayuti’s success.
“Mahayuti won with Adani’s help. He is ‘ladla bhai’ of BJP. This is not the people’s will. We are well aware of what the people of Maharashtra truly want,” Raut said.
He added that Saturday’s results don’t reflect the people’s mandate.
“We do not accept this as people’s mandate. Something is fishy in the election results,” he said.
“Is it possible that Shinde gets 60 seats, Ajit Pawar gets 40 seats and BJP gets 125 seats? The people of this state are not dishonest,” Raut remarked.
Congress accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of delaying election dates to give BJP an edge by rolling out schemes like Ladki Bahin Yojana to sway voters.
“Maharashtra results have been disappointing. We want to discuss more about EVMs and the way Maharashtra elections were postponed. Our campaign was good, but maybe the public expects more from us, and we will deliver on their expectations,” Shrinate said.
Another favourite ‘target’ was electronic voting machines (EVMs).
“They have done some ‘gadbad’ (mess), they have stolen some of our seats,” Raut alleged.
Congress leader Udit Raj echoed Raut’s views.
“As long as there are EVMs, elections cannot be fair. The election trends of Maharashtra clearly indicate that this is the victory of EVM,” he posted on X.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called for greater transparency.
“People used to tell us that we are with you, but keep an eye on EVMs. A question mark definitely arises on the elections,” she said.