The campaigning for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls and by-elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, ended on Monday, bringing to culmination rallies and programs by a galaxy of politicians.
There is a direct fight in Maharashtra between the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Mahayuti. Mahayuti consists of Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, BJP and the Nationalist Congress Party led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The MVA comprises Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
This is the first Assembly election in the state after Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar caused a vertical split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP, founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, respectively.
The BJP campaign was led aggressively by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led multiple rallies across the state and addressed his final one at the Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai on November 14.
The Congress campaign was led by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Maharashtra Congress leaders including Vijay Wadettiwar, Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat, and Sunil Kedar also campaigned for the grand old party. The leaders spoke about the failures of the Mahayuti government.
The leaders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-led alliance and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) did not leave any stone unturned to woo the voters during their campaign in the tribal state.
Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president J P Nadda, key leaders from the saffron party who campaigned extensively in the state, include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while form the Congress its national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Campaigning for the crucial 9 assembly by-elections came to an end on Monday evening where polling is slated on November 20. Over 2 million voters will exercise their franchise in this by-elections.
Termed as the semifinal to the 2027 assembly polls in UP, there is a direct contest between ruling BJP and Samajwadi Party in all the 9 seats.
Congress is supporting SP in these elections while BSP and other smaller parties are in the fray.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the campaigning for the BJP and had already visited each assembly segment at least twice along with holding road shows to woo the voters. CM has been assisted by his ministerial colleagues and the state BJP leaders. On the other hand, SP President Akhilesh Yadav spearheaded the campaigning of the opposition bloc.
Of the 288 seats in Maharashtra, the BJP is contesting the highest number of seats, 152. At least 19 of the BJP’s candidates are contesting on NCP and Sena tickets, a spokesperson of the party said. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP is contesting 59 seats and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde 81 seats.
In the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress is contesting the highest number of seats, 102, while the Sena (UBT) is contesting 96 and Sharad Pawar’s NCP 86 seats.
Voting for all the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra will take place on November 20, while the counting of votes will be taken up on November 23.
Election for 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand has been planned in two phases. The polling for the first phase (in 43 Assembly constituencies) took place on 13th November and second phase (in 38 seats) on 20th November.
Punjab is gearing up for another election cycle with bypolls scheduled for four pivotal constituencies—Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, Dera Baba Nanak, and Barnala—bringing both political alliances and public discontent into sharper focus.