Exit polls spell emphatic victory for BJP in Maharashtra, Haryana

New Delhi: All exit polls on Monday gave the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party a decisive victory over the Opposition in Maharashtra and Haryana.

In Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine will get 230 seats, the Congress-NCP 48 and others 11 of the 288-seat Assembly, predicted Times Now.

The India Today-Axis My India poll gave the BJP-Sena 166 to 194 seats, the Congress-NCP 72 to 90 and others 22 to 34.

The CNN-IPSOS predicted a whopping 243 for the BJP-Sena, 41 for Congress-NCP and 4 for others.

The TV9 Marathi-CICERO poll gave 197 to BJP-Sena, 75 to Congress-NCP and 16 to others.

In Haryana, the Times Now poll predicted 71 for the BJP and 11 for the Congress in the 90-seat Assembly.

The Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat poll gave the BJP 52-63 and the Congress 15 to 19.

The India News-Polstrat poll gave BJP 75 to 80 and Congress 9 to 12.

The TV9-Bharatvarsh predicted 47 seats for the BJP and 23 for the Congress.

On an average, the BJP-Shiv Sena is looking to get 211 in Maharashtra, Congress 64 and others 13.

Similarly in Haryana, the BJP gets 66, the Congress 14, the INLD-Akalis 2 and others 8.

Maharashtra and Haryana witnessed a high-stake contest between BJP and Congress on Monday.

This was the first test that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP faced after the landslide victory in 2019 general elections.

The voting was conducted peacefully across the two states and 64 bypolls seats across 18 states. The voting commenced at 7 and ended at 6 pm.

Maharashtra

For the 288-member Assembly in Maharashtra, 3,237 candidates were in the fray.   

The major fight here was between the BJP-RSS and NCP-Congress alliance.

Exit polls suggested that the BJP, under Fadnavis' leadership is ready to clutch a second straight term in the state.

Crucial candidates:

Devendra Fadnavis: BJP has promoted his face for the chief minister. The ruling party is eyeing to win 130 to 135 seats on its own.

Fadnavis is seeking a fifth term as MLA from Nagpur South West Assembly constituency.

Ashok Chavan: Former Maharashtra CM contested from Bhokar in Nanded district.

Prithviraj Chavan: Fadnavi's another predecessor from Congress, Chavan is seeking a re-election from Karad South in the Satara district.

Aaditya Thackeray: Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, also entered the poll fray from Worli constituency in Mumbai. The 29-year-old Yuva Sena chief became the first Thackery to contest election since the inception of the Shiv Sena in the 60s.

The BJP had fielded its nominees in 164 Assembly seats, including candidates of smaller allies contesting on its lotus symbol, while the Sena contested 124 seats.

On the other hand, the Opposition Congress had fielded 147 candidates and its ally NCP 121.

Among other parties, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had fielded 101 candidates.

As many as 1,400 Independents were also in the fray. The election campaign, which ended on Saturday evening, was dominated by the BJP's aggressive nationalism narrative and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years.

Nearly 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state. Around 1,35,021 VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) machines have also been installed.

Of the 288 constituencies, the Nanded-South seat has the maximum 38 candidates, while Chiplun in Ratnagiri district has just three nominees.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 122 seats, the Shiv Sena-63, the Congress-42 and the NCP-41. Later, two by-elections were held due to the death of MLAs Krushna Ghoda (Palghar) and Bala Sawant (Bandra-East).

Haryana

In Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is confident of retaining the office.

For the 90-member Legislative Assembly, the state witnessed a multi-cornered contest among the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

On Monday, the fate of 1,169 candidates was sealed in EVMs by the voters.

19,578 polling stations were set up for citizens to cast their votes in the state. About 2,987 polling booths were marked as vulnerable and 151 polling stations were identified as critical. Live footage from these polling stations was monitored in the control room set up at the headquarters in Chandigarh.

More than 40,000 Haryana Police personnel, over 13,000 paramilitary personnel and more than 20,000 Home Guards and Special Police Officers have been deployed for conducting the elections in the state.