Rival Senas & NCPs, BJP and Cong battle for political supremacy

Mumbai: The counting of votes will be held on Tuesday in 48 Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra where the rival Shiv Sena and NCP factions, as well as the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress are jockeying for political supremacy.

Counting will begin at 8 am across the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The exercise would be held at 289 counting halls and 4,309 counting tables by 14,507 personnel. Adequate police security was in place at all the counting centres, as per a statement from the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

The performance in Maharashtra is crucial for both the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) as the western state sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 MPs. The Mahayuti comprises the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, BJP and the NCP headed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. The MVA constituents include the Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). Elections were held in Maharashtra in five phases from April 19 to May 20 at 98,140 polling stations. The state logged a voter turnout of 61.33 per cent in the five phases. Among the 1,121 candidates in the fray include prominent figures such as Union ministers Nitin Gadkari (from Nagpur seat), Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Narayan Rane (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Raosaheb Danve (Jalna), Bharti Pawar (Dindori) and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi). They were pitted against rivals from the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT).

The most riveting contest was in Baramati constituency where Sharad Pawar’s daughter and sitting NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule was pitted against her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, who last year engineered a split in the Nationalist Congress Party founded by his uncle.

The BJP-led NDA has set the bar high this time with a target to win 45 plus constituencies in the state.