The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti on Saturday returned strongly in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region in the assembly election after its poor show in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The trends showed the BJP was comfortably ahead in 36 seats, while the Congress was ahead in nine seats.
With 62 seats, Vidarbha has the second-highest number of assembly seats after western Maharashtra and holds the key to government formation.
Some of the BJP’s political front runners are contesting from Vidarbha, among them deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself. While Fadnavis is contesting from Nagpur South-West, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule is contesting from Kamptee, Sudhir Mungantiwar from Ballarshah and Madan Yerawar from Yavatmal.
The latest data by the Election Commission showed Devendra Fadnavis was leading by 26,406 seats against his nearest rival Prafulla Vinodrao Gudadhe of the Congress.
From the MVA camp, state Congress president Nana Patole was leading from the Sakoli seat.
Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly and a prominent Congress leader, was leading in the Brahmapuri constituency. His closest competitor, Krishnalal Bajirao Sahare of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was trailing. Wadettiwar first won from Brahmapuri in 2014, marking a significant milestone in his political career.
The BJP claims there is a “positive wave” in favour of Mahayuti across Vidarbha. BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule earlier said the party would march through the region by matching the 44 seats it had won in 2014, during the “Modi sweep”.
During the Lok Sabha election, the Congress won 13 seats of the 17 seats it had contested, while the BJP dropped to nine seats from the 23 it had won in 2019.
In the Lok Sabha election, both parties clashed in 15 seats. Of these, the BJP could win only four — Akola, Nagpur, Mumbai North and Pune, whereas the Congress registered victory in 11 constituencies: Nandurbar, Dhule, Amravati, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North- Central, Latur and Solapur.