Election results: Fadnavis' homeland rejects BJP, richer areas shock Sena

The Congress, which had won 10 seats in the region in 2014, won 17 this time

The Maharashtra Assembly elections threw up a mild surprise, by giving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena — known as the Mahayuti —fewer seats than what any of the exit polls had predicted. Not just that, the seat count of the Mahayuti, at the time of going to press, was less than what the two parties had secured in 2014, when they had contested separately.

Despite retaining a strong edge over the majority mark, the Mahayuti lost 24 seats from its kitty, seeing its tally reduced to 161 from 185. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance increased its