The BJP-backed Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections has surprised both the Mahayuti as well as the Congress-backed Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The Mahayuti candidates are pleasantly surprised by the sheer scale of their landslide victory which seems to be unexpected.
The victorious Mahayuti held a press conference here on Saturday after their impressive victory. Speaking along with NCP chief Ajit Pawar and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde said, “This election has decided to whom the Shiv Sena and the NCP belong,” Shinde and Ajit Pawar said.
However, on the sidelines of the event, a BJP candidate who won with a good margin said that though he expected to win, he was taken aback by the increase in the margin of votes which decided his victory.
On the other hand, the top leaders of the MVA like Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharad Pawar) as well as the Congress are nowhere to be seen and their phones seem to be switched off.
The Congress has yet to issue any official statement, but has called for a press conference at 7.30 PM on Saturday, while the NCP (SP) spokesperson has stated that an official statement will be released later.
The few Congress workers who were willing to speak off the record, said that they are in a state of shock and disbelief after the completely unexpected drubbing they received at the hands of the BJP-backed Mahayuti alliance.
Incidentally, even a senior Congress leader like Balasaheb Thorat has lost from Sangamner constituency by 10,560 votes, which is a setback for the eight-time Congress MLA. Thorat has been winning the polls since 1985.
“The result has surprised us because we worked really hard to convince the people to vote for us. Defeats and victory always happens in every election, but the massive landslide in favour of the Mahayuti has really surprised us. We will have to introspect and figure out where we went wrong before we decide on what to do next. We plan to do a detailed analysis of the result,” a Congress worker said.
However, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate pointed to the timing of the election announcements, claiming that the delaye poll allowed the Mahayuti to roll out schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana to sway voters.
“Maharashtra results have been disappointing. We want to discuss more about EVMs and the way Maharashtra elections were postponed. Our campaign was good, but maybe the public expects more from us, and we will deliver on their expectations,” Shrinate said.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is yet to make any official statement. Yet, commenting on the poll outcome, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey called for introspection, stating that the party might have made some mistakes. He admitted that they failed to anticipate the sheer scale of the landslide Mahayuti victory.
“We could not recognise this tsunami. In a democracy, the public is the most important. We respect the decision of the public and congratulate those who formed the government in Maharashtra. We need to introspect where we went wrong. Our manifesto was very good, we talked about all sections of the society,” Dubey said.