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In the 2019 elections, the Congress and BJP faced off in 66 seats. Of these, the Congress managed to secure only 16, while the BJP claimed 50
Assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23. (Representational image/AP)
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are set for direct contests in 75 out of the 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra where elections will be held on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23. Data analysed by News18 shows that most of these straight fights will occur in Vidarbha, where they will clash in 47 seats, followed by 32 in western Maharashtra, 17 in northern Maharashtra, 19 in Marathwada, and 33 in the Konkan region, which includes Mumbai and Thane.
In the 2019 elections, the Congress and BJP faced off in 66 seats. Of these, the Congress managed to secure only 16, while the BJP claimed 50. Specifically, in Vidarbha, the two parties were in direct competition in 31 seats, with the Congress winning eight and the BJP bagging 23. The current election cycle sees both parties revisiting these contested territories. Both state party presidents — deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the BJP and Vijay Wedattiwar for the Congress — hail from the Vidarbha region.
In Mumbai’s 36 assembly seats, the BJP and Congress competed in 12 seats during the 2019 elections. The Congress secured just one. Northern Maharashtra saw six head-to-head contests, where the Congress won two. In Marathwada, the two parties faced off in 10 seats, and the Congress emerged victorious in only three.
Alliance matrices
The ruling Mahayuti alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On the other side, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) consists of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Peasants and Workers Party of India.
Within the Mahayuti, the BJP is contesting the highest number of seats at 148, followed by Shinde’s Shiv Sena with 85 seats and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction with 55. The MVA lineup has Congress fielding candidates in 102 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) in 94, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) in 85. The SP has nominated candidates for nine seats, while the Peasants and Workers Party of India is contesting four.
Other parties like Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) could influence outcomes in certain constituencies. The MNS is contesting 135 seats, the BSP is fielding candidates in all 288 constituencies, and the VBA is contesting 110 seats.
Smaller but notable parties also include the Mahadev Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party, and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The RSP is running in 151 seats, Azad’s party in 40, and AIMIM in 16.
Past elections
In the general elections held in May this year, the MVA bagged 31 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the NDA was restricted to 17 seats.
A victory in the recent Haryana elections, however, appeared to have turned the tide in favour of the BJP-led Mahayuti, re-energising its cadre and allowing the party to recalibrate its strategy for the Assembly polls.
The MVA, on the other hand, was seen struggling on the issue of seat-sharing and the chief ministerial face.
However, the coalition has exuded confidence about winning the elections and forming a government in the state.
The elections are a make or break for either side with the last five years witnessing significant political realignments in the state as both regional behemoths, the Shiv Sena and NCP, saw a split.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the largest party with 105 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 56 and Congress with 44. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 122 seats, Shiv Sena secured 63, and Congress took 42 seats.
