Campaigning for elections to be held in 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra was halted on Monday. While the ruling Mahayuti alliance claimed to retain power, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance (MVA) expressed hopes of a strong comeback. Voting will take place on November 20 and the results will be known on November 23.
These great leaders campaigned
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and several Union ministers criss-crossed the state to drum up votes for their candidates.
Competition between Mahayuti and MVA
The grand alliance includes the BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the National Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Mahayuti is trying to retain power by supporting women through popular shows like “Majhi Behan, Majhi Ladki”. At the same time, the BJP tried to woo voters by using slogans like if we divide, we will be cut off.
While Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA), which includes Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar). She accuses the state government of corruption and misrule.
The MVA responded to the ruling coalition’s rhetoric by focusing on issues such as the caste-based census, social justice, and protection of the Constitution. The goal of the opposition parties was to attract voters who felt neglected by the government.
Ahead of the elections, the BJP on Monday launched a “Say No to Congress” campaign attacking opposition MVA. The campaign highlighted events of the past, including incidents such as the November 26, 2011 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the murder of sadhus in Palghar.
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Let us tell you that the BJP is contesting on 149 seats, Shiv Sena is contesting on 81 seats and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is fielding candidates for 59 seats.
At the same time, 101 congressional candidates are in the fray. Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded 95 candidates and NCP (SP) has fielded 86 candidates. Smaller parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), are also in the fray, with the BSP fielding 237 candidates and the AIMIM fielding 17 candidates.
How different is the 2019 election?
This time the number of candidates increased by 28 percent compared to the 2019 assembly elections. This year, 4,136 candidates are contesting the elections, while in 2019 this figure was 3,239. Of these candidates, 2,086 are independent candidates. The number of registered voters has increased to 9,63,69,410, compared to 8,94,46,211 in 2019, i.e. 69,23,199 new voters have been added this time. Around six lakh state government employees will be involved in election work.
