BJP leads a saffron wave, emerges as single largest party in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Results of the Maharashtra Assembly election were out on Sunday and the people of the state yet again gave their mandate for a hung Assembly, continuing the tradition of a coalition government for another five years. But this time, they put their belief in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), helping it to emerge as the single largest party of the state with 122 seats. The bustle for government formation and the search for partners has already begun.

Shiv Sena also obtained 63 seats, a remarkable figure for the party that has been struggling with issues like lack of strong leadership. Going by the results, Congress and NCP have slipped down to third and fourth position in the state Assembly with 42 and 41 seats, respectively. Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) managed to win only one seat.

Hitting its first century, BJP created history yet again after the Lok Sabha polls. Despite being unable to manage a full majority, the BJP succeeded in registering its biggest ever tally in Maharashtra and without any support from the Shiv Sena. The poll result has been attributed to the presence of a Modi wave in the state that helped BJP conquer maximum seats. With its emergence, the party also routed the Congress-NCP that ruled Maharashtra for 15 years.

Similarly, Shiv Sena has also managed to get the second highest tally in the Assembly, which was very important for its survival, especially when it was contesting its first Assembly polls in the absence of Bal Thackeray, late founder of Shiv Sena. This has been seen as one of the best performances of the Shiv Sena and BJP as both were fighting the polls on their own after 30 years. In 2004, Shiv Sena and BJP had won 45 and 46 seats, respectively.

This is the first time that all major political parties contested the Assembly polls independently since 1984, according to political observers.