It was an outstanding win for the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar) in Maharashtra. The results have put to rest all speculations that this alliance would fail and the Maha Vikas Aghadi would snatch power in the state.
The Mahayuti is leading in over 220 seats and that is way above the magic mark of 145 seats required to form the government in Maharashtra which has a total of 288 seats.
The results are also good for the alliance in the backdrop of a poor showing in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. The alliance managed to win just 17 of the 48 seats in the state. On the other hand, the Maha Vikas Aghadi bagged 30 parliamentary seats.
Just five months have gone since that poor showing and today the Mahayuti is on the verge of creating history in the state with such a thumping win.
There are several factors that led to this astounding win. Let us take a look at them.
Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain
The Mahayuti adopted a policy which helped them consolidate the OBC votes. The BJP which has been cultivating this vote bank since the 1990s with its formula called MADHAV. This brought together the Mali, Dhangar and Vanjari communities together. This strategy was aimed at consolidating the OBC votes and counter the dominance of the Maratha community. The BJP did realise that the Marathas are unlikely to vote for them en-masse and hence stuck to this strategy.
Consolidating this further was the slogan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At the two rallies he held in Dhule and Nashik, he raised the slogan, ‘Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain,’ which helped the BJP led alliance immensely.
Going vocal for local
This time around the complete focus was on the state of Maharashtra alone. During the Lok Sabha elections there were complaints that the BJP was favouring Gujarat and in the bargain lost out on the Foxconn-Vedenta semiconductor plant. The plants and industries being moved from Pune to Gujarat was also questioned.
The BJP then went on to invite Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum to Mumbai. An MoU was signed to make the Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s economy worth $300 billion. Klaus also promised that Mumbai would grow as a financial centre at the international level.
To push the local agenda further, the Centre accorded the classical status to the Marathi language. This was in many ways a game changer as the demand for the same has been a long time wish of the Marathi voters.
The farmer advantage
The BJP led alliance has done well in almost agrarian regions of the state. Factoring in the farmers was a key move as they can be game changers during elections. The alliance assured to procure cotton crops above the Minimum Support Price this season.
The alliance also assured that this season the soybean would be procured under the Price Support Scheme with moisture content tolerance of up to 15 per cent. This explains the Mahayuti’s win in the Vidarbha region where the vote share was at 46.6 per cent, which is up by 5.6 per cent when compared to the last elections.
A lacklustre MVA
The entire campaign by the Maha Vikas Aghadi was a lacklustre one. There was no proper messaging and the alliance was unable to highlight any. Errors on the part of the ruling coalition.
The only slogan that the alliance relied on was that the traitors should be taught a lesson and this did not resonate one bit with the voter. Further the breaking away of Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar hurt the MVA even further.
Say no to appeasement
The BJP alliance was quick to catch on to the appeasement policies that were being followed by the MVA when it was in power. The people of the state were fed up with minority appeasement and hence booted out the MVA.
This issue was raised strongly by BJP leader and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah. He had questioned as to why Uddhav Thackeray had not visited Ram Mandir. He had however assured to give Rs 1,000 crore to build Mosques, Shah had said. Further he attacked the MVA for promising reservation and adde that the BJP would never allow reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra.
The Mahayuti instead focused entirely on development, law and order among other major issues. For instance the BJP highlighted the river linking project for Yavatmal which aims at irrigating vast farmlands. The Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi Express was also a campaign point.
The BJP also promised the setting up of a special trust for maintaining and renovating the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The Maoist menace
Maharashtra like Chhattisgarh has taken the battle against Maoist very seriously. The government which has got down the naxalite strength to a large extent said that the menace would be wiped out by March 31 2026.
Further the BJP did manage to convince the voter that it is serious about law and order and would not tolerate any form of separatism or terrorism in the state. The Mahayuti during its tenure has ensured that such problems did not have any place in Maharashtra.
The women vote
One of the most important reasons for the BJP to win Maharashtra is due to the women votes. The Ladki Bahin Yojana was announced after the Lok Sabha elections.
This scheme ensures that Rs 1,500 per month is given to upto 8.5 crore women across the state. This scheme covers 40 per cent of the 4.5 crore women in the state. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during the campaign assured that this sum would be increased to Rs 2,100 if the Mahayuti returned to power in the state.
The Mahayuti ensured that this would not just be an announcement. It implemented it in no time and ensured that the money reached the women in record time.
