MNS, Ambedkar's VBA fail to make impact; Mahayuti set for landslide win

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi failed to make an impact in the state assembly polls as trends showed the ruling Mahayuti cruising to a landslide victory.

Parties like the Samajwadi Party and All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen were in a slightly better position. While the MNS had fielded 125 candidates, the VBA had 200 candidates in the fray.  The bad news for the MNS was compounded with Amit Thackeray, son of the party chief, trailing at third place in Mahim seat in Mumbai.  The Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, which had fielded 19 candidates, also failed to make any impact. It is known to have influence among farmers, especially in western Maharashtra. Incidentally, on the eve of counting of votes, Ambedkar had claimed his party would get a sizable number of seats and would get to choose which side can form the government.  As per trends made available on the EC website, the Samajwadi Party, Jan Surajya Shakti and CPM were leading in two seats each while the AIMIM, Rashtriya Yuva Swabhiman Party, Peasants and Workers Party and Rajashri Shahu Vikas Aghadi were leading on one seat each. A total of 158 parties contested the November 20 assembly polls.  The main fight is between the Mahayuti comprising BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi consisting of the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).