A S S E M B LY E L E C T I O N R E S U LT MAHARASHTRA 288 TOTAL BJP CONG NCPSP SHIV SENA SHSUBT NCP OTH BJP POLLS 2024 SWING FACTOR MASSIVE SLIDE IN VOTE SHARES OF UDDHAV’S SHIV SENA, CONGRESS JHARKHAND VICTORY CONSOLATION PRIZE FOR ANTI-BJP INDIA BLOC BJP GETS ITS MAHA MANTRA RIGHT, CONG LOSES MORE MOJO BJP: +0.59% SSUBT: -6.75 Cong: -4.52% SS: SS -0.58% Biggest blow for Shiv Sena (UBT) EKNATH SHINDE won KopriPachpakhadi seat by 1.2L votes Electoral mood changed dramatically compared to the 2024 LS polls. BJP gained both vote share and seats while the Shiv Sena (UBT) suffered the most losing 6.75% vote share, followed by the Congress *Swing Factor refers to the vote share gain/ loss compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls JHARKHAND BJP CONG JMM OTH Shiv Sena NCP SHSUBT NCPSP Others 81 TOTAL BJP 21(-4) 16 34(+4) 10 Congress Prime Minister Narendra Modi at BJP HQ in New Delhi on Saturday | SHEKHAR YADAV At 85%, BJP’s strike rate highest in state DIVISIVE FORCES LOST: PM MAHARASHTRA S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai THE closely-fought Maharashtra assembly elections on Saturday decisively swung in favour of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, routing the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi that had gained a psychological advantage by its sterling performance in the Lok Sabha polls six months ago. The BJP emerged the single largest party with 132 seats, surpassing its last two scores of 122 in 2014 and 105 in 2019. This is the peak BJP performance in Maharashtra with a strike rate of more than 85% — highest among all alliance partners as well as the Opposition. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena contested 79 seats and won 57, with a vote share of 12.38%. Shinde ensured that the MLAs who revolted along with him against Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership got elected. In contrast, the Uddhav-led Sena could manage just 20 seats. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 41 of the total 59 seats it contested with a 9.01% vote share as against Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP getting 11.28% votes but only 10 seats. As for the Congress, it had won 13 seats in the Lok Sabha polls but squandered the advantage within six months. It managed to pick up just 16 seats in the assembly polls despite contesting from 101 (12.24% vote share). The debacle meant that for the first time in the history of the state assembly there will be no the leader of Opposi, tion. For, no Opposition party got even 10% of total strength of the 288 of the House. As for the BJP after the surprise victory in the , Haryana polls, the party appears to have picked up momentum. Its welfare schemes like the Ladli Behna struck a chord, evidenced by high polling of women. Local leaders and the RSS did the hard yards rather than big-time parachuting of national leaders to sway the electorate. In contrast, prominent Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi were hardly visible on the ground in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the Maharashtra mandate as a victory of development, good governance and social justice. Speaking at the party headquarters in Delhi, Modi said, “Divisive forces have been defeated.” He alleged that India faces the challenge of urban Naxals of the Congress whose its remote control is abroad | P7 Biggest message from Maharashtra after Haryana polls is unity. Ek hain to safe hain has become country’s mahamantra Narendra Modi, prime minister Hemant Soren with Kalpana Soren and sons at Ranchi airport on Saturday | PTI Soren storms back to power with record win JHARKHAND M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Ranchi DISPROVING exit polls that gave the BJP-led NDA an edge in the Jharkhand Assembly polls, Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance on Saturday stormed back to power for the second consecutive term, winning a comfortable majority in the 81-member assembly . Soren, riding on the immense popularity of his better half Kalpana and welfare schemes like Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana, scored the best ever performance by any party or leader since the formation of Jharkhand. The BJP had deployed master strategists including Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and also plugged the loopholes that had led to ouster of the Raghubar Das government in 2019, but it failed to regain the trust of the people, particularly tribals in Jharkhand. According to political analysts, the financial assistance of `1,000 (which was later increased to `2,500) under Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana was a big hit as it helped JMM mobilize women voters in Jharkhand. Talking to this newspaper ahead of the Assembly polls, Kalpana had termed the programme as a revolutionary step. “`1,000 is a big amount for the women living in the rural areas as most of them are housewives and are mostly dependent on their husbands due to lack of livelihood opportunities for them. With the amount received in their bank accounts regularly, they felt empowered and hence voted enthusiastically in favour of INDIA bloc,” said political analyst and Professor V P Sharan. According to Sharan, Kalpana’s entry into active politics in the absence of her husband also helped as women voters instantly connected with her. As per ECI data, women voters outnumbered male voters by 5, 51,797 across the state during the two-phase polling. Govt to amend varsities Act to ensure autonomy of institutions E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar WITH THIS ISSUE INDIA’S SCAMDEMIC PLUS 12 PAGES THE state cabinet on Saturday approved the proposal to amend the Odisha Universities Act, 1989 to give greater autonomy to public universities in selecting their vice-chancellors. The move will overturn the decision taken by the previous BJD government to include its nominee in the committee for selection of vice-chancellors of public universities. The BJD had amended the Odisha Universities Act, 1989 to Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020 for the purpose. However, it was opposed by University Grants Commission (UGC) for violating its rules and subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court. Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja said the amendment aims to address critical challenges faced by universities, while enhancing the overall academic excellence, governance and administrative efficacy of the universities. Speaking about the amendments, he said the focus is on improving the recruitment process and empowering universities with more autonomy to allow them to make decisions independently while maintaining accountability . The amendments will enable involvement of academic professionals in the decision-making process, reintroduc- tion of senate and formation of building and works committee, finance committee, among others. Sources said as per the proposed amendment to the 1989 Act, the selection committee for vice-chancellors will have an eminent educationist as chairperson, one syndicate member of t h e u n ive r s i t y a n d o n e U G C representative. While approving the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020, the BJD government had mandated that the selection committee will comprise a chancellor’s nominee, nominee of the UGC and nominee of the state government. This was in conflict with the UGC regulations. Clause-7 of the UGC Regulations-2018 lays down the selection procedure for vice-chancellors/pro vice-chancellors of the universities. The selection should be made by a search-cum-selection committee comprising three to five persons of eminence in the sphere of higher education. The persons will not be connected in any manner with the university concerned. Ahuja added that the amendment will also incorporate various aspects of the National Education Policy-2020 like multi-disciplinary education, skill development and enhanced access to higher education through distance learning. JMM Spectacular gain for JMM, BJP loses hold BACKWARD TAG TO GO In a video message shared after the win, Soren said he will try to remove Jharkhand’s ‘backward’ tag and make it a developed state powered by selfgovernance MESSAGE TO THE BJP, SAYS CONG The Congress hailed the poll results in Jharkhand, saying the people of the state have rejected the “politics of polarisation” peddled by BJP HEMANT SOREN won the Barhait seat by 39,791 votes, defeating BJP’s Gamliyel Hembrom The Hemant Soren-led party gained nearly 9% vote share in the Assembly elections compared to the recently held Lok Sabha polls, while the BJP share slipped significantly. In all, the coalition comprising the JMM, Congress, RJD, and CPIM(L) Liberation won 56 out of the 81 seats up for grabs ■ 132(+27) 16(-28) 57 Will BJP do a Bihar in Maha 41 on CM choice? 20 10 12 Congress BHUBANESWAR  SUNDAY  NOVEMBER 24, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 24  JEYPORE EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ Others SWING FACTOR BJP: -11.42% Cong: -3.63% JMM: 8.84% S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai AFTER the thumping victory of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra Assembly elections, the million dollar question now is who would be the state’s next chief minister. Would the BJP let Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde retain the chief minister’s post as Mahayuti fought the elections under his leadership, or would it choose to put its own person in the CM’s chair, now that it’s the largest party in the alliance? BJP leader and Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said there is no dispute in Mahayuti over who would be the next CM. He claimed one of the two—Shinde or Ajit Pawar— would be chosen as the next CM. He pointed to party leader Amit Shah’s statement that leaders of the three Mahayuti parties will sit together and take a call. However, members of both the Sena and the BJP camps are confident of their party getting the CM’s post. “It will be interesting to see whether the BJP top brass will decide to do what it did in Bihar (making Nitish Kumar the CM) by choosing Shinde as the CM so as to send a message that it respects its allies even when it has the numbers to claim CM’s chair, or would it put its own person in the CM’s chair,” a political observer said. Priyanka betters Rahul victory margin EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi CONGRESS general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi made her electoral debut with a bang with a massive victory in the bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, vacated by brother Rahul Gandhi. Her margin of victory - by over 4.1 lakh votes - bettered Rahul’s 3.6 lakh vote margin. The party also won byelections to all three assembly seats in Karnataka, wresting one Priyanka Gandhi Vadra flashes the victory sign in New Delhi Pranab’s brother held for assaulting vendor EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Jajpur POLICE on Saturday arrested Bhaba Prasad Das, the brother of BJD’s former organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das for allegedly assaulting a vegetable vendor at Biraja Haat in Jajpur town. Basing on a complaint filed by the vendor, Nagen Nayak, police had registered a case against Bhaba under sections 115 (2), 296, 3 (5), 303 (2), 324 (4) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Jajpur Town police station on Friday . Bhaba, a former chairperson of Jajpur municipality, was detained and subsequently arrested for his alleged involvement in assaulting and threatening the vegetable vendor and taking away his money at the market place. Police brought Bhaba to the residence of the SDJM for appearance on Saturday CONTINUED ON P5 . each from the BJP and JD(S), while retained Palakkad in Kerala. Bypolls were also held for several assembly constituencies in over a dozen states, including UP, which witnessed polling in nine seats. The ruling BJP retaining its five constituencies and wrested two from the Samajwadi Party . In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress won all the six assembly constituencies that witnessed by-elections, including Madarihat it wrested from the BJP . The ruing NDA in Bihar pocketed all four seats — Belaganj, Imamganj, Tarari and Ramgarh. The NDA swept the bypolls to eight Assembly seats in the Northeast. In Rajasthan, the BJP won five of seven seats while the Congress secured a win in Dausa. The ruling AAP in Punjab wrested Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal from the Congress but ended up losing the Barnala seat to the grand old party .