Maharashtra elections: Uddhav camp bolts doors to prevent horse trading

Maharashtra conducted elections across its 288 Assembly constituencies on Wednesday. At least two major exit polls have predicted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will secure a majority

A day ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election results, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) leader Sanjay Raut said on Friday that the party has arranged for its winning candidates to stay in a hotel, fearing that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might attempt to buy their support.

 

“We are confident of getting a majority tomorrow with about 165 of our MLAs elected to the Legislative Assembly. The ‘khokha walas’ will try to pressurise them, so we have made arrangements for them to stay together in a hotel,” Raut said. He added that the chief ministerial face of the Opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance would be decided jointly by Sharad Pawar, the Congress, and Uddhav Thackeray.

 

Raut emphasised that the MVA is set to secure a majority and will arrive at a unanimous decision on the chief minister’s post. “No formula has been decided yet; everyone will sit together and choose the CM,” he said.

 

Maharashtra conducted elections across its 288 Assembly constituencies on Wednesday. At least two major exit polls, including the Axis My India exit poll, have forecasted a sweeping victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), known as the ‘Mahayuti’ in Maharashtra. The Mahayuti alliance includes the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). 

2019 failed coup after Maharashtra elections

During the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP and Ajit Pawar orchestrated an unsuccessful coup on November 23 by swearing in Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister and Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. The move stunned the state, as Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis attempted to form a BJP-NCP government, contingent on elected MLAs siding with the rebel NCP leader.

 

However, the coup was foiled by Sharad Pawar, who ensured that the majority of the 54 NCP MLAs remained loyal to him. This ultimately led to the formation of the MVA government, with Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister.

 

The BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 polls as allies but parted ways over the chief minister’s post. Thackeray’s government was ousted in 2022 after Eknath Shinde’s rebellion paved the way for the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) government. The alliance was later joined by Ajit Pawar in 2023, following his split from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.