Mumbai/Chandigarh: The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance on Thursday retained power in Maharashtra, albeit with a reduced majority, while it was a hung Assembly in Haryana where the BJP emerged as the single largest party and JJP chief Dushyant Chautala and independents hold the key to government formation.
As the NCP led by the wily Pawar (78) fared better than expected for the opposition in Maharashtra, the Sena is expected to drive a hard bargain with the BJP, which was expecting an emphatic victory.
The Sena insisted on a “50:50” power sharing formula for the two coalition partners.
In the first Assembly elections after the BJP’s triumph in the Lok Sabha polls in May, the saffron party’s electoral juggernaut met with some resistance in Maharashtra and Haryana with a resurgent Congress putting up a good showing in the northern state.
Though the BJP, which bagged 39 of the 90 seats at stake in Haryana and was ahead in one and was short of majority to retain power, its chief Amit Shah indicated the party will stake claim to form the next government.
The half-way mark is 46. The BJP had 47 seats in the outgoing house and won all the 10 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
All eyes were on the fledgling Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) which was floated last year by Dushyant Chautala, a former MP from Hisar, after a vertical split in the once powerful INLD following a family feud in the Chautala clan. The JJP bagged 10 while Independents had 7 in their kitty.
Chautala remained non-committal on whether his party would support the BJP or the Congress in forming a government The Congress bagged 31 seats, up from 15 in the outgoing House.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who won from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district, urged non-BJP outfits to join hands.
In Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) not only improved its performance but fared even better than senior partner Congress by contesting lesser number of seats.
With results announced for 258 out of the 288 seats, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance got a simple majority with the saffron party winning 94 seats and the latter bagging 54 for a total of 148. The BJP and Sena were also ahead in 11 and 2 seats respectively. The half-way mark is 145.
The NCP and the Congress won 49 and 35 seats and were leading in 5 and 9 seats respectively.
In the 2014 polls, the BJP won 122 seats, the Sena 63, the Congress 42 and the NCP 41.
The BJP and Sena had then contested separately. (PTI)
