New Delhi: 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 per cent against 14.02 per cent 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 per cent of the votes to bag 23 of the 48 seats at stake.
In the case of BJP’s erstwhile ally Shiv Sena, a three per cent rise from 16.26 per cent to 19.4 per cent was enough to raise its tally of seats to 63 from 45 (rpt) 45 in the outgoing House. The Sena polled 20.6 per cent to get 18 seats.
For Congress, a three per cent swing in votes against it cost it 40 seats. As against 21.01 per cent in 2009, Congress got a vote share of 17.9 per cent this time while its seat tally dropped hugely from 82 to 42. In the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress polled 18.1 per cent votes but got only two seats.
The vote share of Congress’ erstwhile ally NCP rose marginally to 17.3 per cent from 16.37 per cent 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 per cent.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) secured 3.1 per cent 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.
16 women candidates win Maha Assembly polls
A total of 16 women candidates have won the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
BJP leads the pack with 10 victorious women candidates, while Congress’ five women nominees have been elected. NCP’s Jyoti Kalani is the sole woman candidate elected on party ticket. Shiv Sena and MNS have no woman representative, as per the poll results declared on Sunday.
BJP’s Pankaja Munde and Madhuri Misal, who were members of the outgoing Vidhan Sabha, retained their Parli and Parvati seats, respectively.
Two newcomers Manda Mhatre and Vidya Thakur emerged as ‘giant killers’. Mhatre defeated Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik of NCP from Belapur and Thakur defeated senior Sena leader Subhash Desai in Goregaon.
The other victorious women from the BJP include Medha Kulkarni (Kothrud), Bharti Lavhekar (Versova), Manisha Chaudhari (Dahisar), Snehalata Kolhe (Kopargaon), Monika Rajale (Shevgaon) and Sangeeta Thombre (Kaij).
Congress’ newcomer Ameeta Chavan, wife of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, got elected from Bhokar in Nanded district.
The other four Congress women candidates who retained their seats are – former minister Varsha Gaikwad (Dharavi), Yashomati Thakur (Teosa), Nirmala Gavit (Igatpuri) and Praniti Shinde (Solapur City Central). NCP’s Jyoti Kalani won from the Ulhasnagar seat. (PTI)