Cash transfers, caste calculus: What was behind the Mahayuti’s sweep in Maharashtra?
The ruling alliance seems to be heading for a majority of more than three-fourths in the state assembly elections.
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Veteran Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat has held the Sangamner assembly seat in Ahmednagar district since 1985. Even during the Modi wave of 2014, he retained the seat by a margin of nearly 59,000 votes. On Saturday, Throat lost to Shiv Sena’s Amol Khatal.
Another Congress old-hand, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, was bested by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atul Bhosale from Karad South in Satara district. Satara and Ahmednagar (now renamed Ahilyanagar) in Western Maharashtra have long been bastions of the Congress and its Nationalist Congress Party ally. Until recently, the region was considered impregnable to the BJP.
But by Saturday evening at 8.30, the BJP-led Mahyuti alliance was ahead in 41 of the 58 seats in the region.
In fact, the ruling coalition consisting of the BJP, the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party dominated all regions in the state. It was heading for a majority of more than three-fourths, leading in 230 of the 288 seats in the assembly.
The Mahayuti won a staggering 48.16 % of the votes while the Maha Vikas Aghadi garnered 33.65%. The Opposition coalition comprises the Congress, the Shiv Sena faction headed by Uddhav Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party...
