Mumbai: Exit polls have given Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance an edge in the neck-to-neck fight with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra Assembly elections.
According to Pradeep Gupta’s Axis My India exit polls, the ruling combine of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, is projected to win 178-200 seats in the 288-member assembly, while MVA, comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), will be restricted to anywhere between 82-102 seats. The halfway mark is 145.
The vote share projection shows Mahayuti leading with 48%, followed by MVA at 37%, and Others at 12%.
Region wise, the Axis My India exit poll gave the NDA 24 seats in Konkan, 30 in Marathwada, 22 in Mumbai, 38 in North Maharashtra, 39 in Vidarbha, and 36 in West Maharashtra. For the MVA, it predicted 13 in Konkan, 15 in Marathwada, 14 in Mumbai, 7 in North Maharashtra, 20 in Vidarbha, and 21 in West Maharashtra.
Eknath Shinde is the preferred choice for the next chief minister with 31% support, followed by Uddhav Thackeray at 18%, and Devendra Fadnavis at 12%, it added.
Today’s Chanakya has also predicted a landslide victory for Mahayuti with at least 175 seats. It has given MVA 100 seats and approximately 13 seats to Others.
#TCAnalysis
Maharashtra 2024
Seat Projection
BJP+ 175 ± 11 Seats
Cong+ 100 ± 11 Seats
Others 13 ± 5 Seats#TodaysChanakyaAnalysis— Today’s Chanakya (@TodaysChanakya) November 21, 2024
Matrize has also predicted BJP alliance Mahayuti, which banked on a host of welfare schemes, especially the Ladki Bahin Yojana, winning Maharashtra with 150-170 seats (48%). It gave the Congress and its allies only 110-130 seats with 42% of vote share and 8-10 seats for Others (10%).
The exit poll conducted by People’s Pulse also gave NDA’s Mahayuti a whopping 175-195 seats and only 85-112 to MVA.
Electoral Edge has predicted 150 seats for MVA with BJP winning 121 of those.
The C-Voter survey, however, has predicted a slim gain for Mahayuti (112 Assembly seats) over the opposition MVA (104), while adding that 61 seats remain too close to call. In terms of vote share, the ruling alliance is projected to get 41%, MVA 40% and Others 19%.
Similarly, P-MARQ has forecast a close contest between the two alliances with 137-157 seats for Mahayuti and 126-146 seats for MVA .
Dismissing exit poll predictions, Shiv Sena UBT leader Anand Dubey on Thursday said that these have become a medium of entertainment. “In Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, they predicted that the Congress would form the government, but the BJP formed the government. So, exit polls are just for entertainment. We will know the actual results on November 23,” he told ANI.
Maharashtra saw a voter turnout of 66%, up from 61.1% in 2019, Election Commission officials said on Thursday.
The results for Maharashtra and Jharkhand will be declared on November 23, alongside bypoll results of several states.