A ss e mb ly E l e ct i on R e su 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: +0.59% BJP gets its Maha mantra right, Cong loses more mojo SSUBT: -6.75 Cong: -4.52% 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 JMM Spectacular gain for JMM, BJP loses hold Backward tag to go Jharkhand M UK E S H RAN J AN @ 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. 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 Underlining the cooperation of the international society for the development of the State, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to hold consultations with the Singapore government for restoration of its relations with Andhra Pradesh. He is of the opinion that cancellation of collaboration agreements by the previous YSRC government ruined the reputation of the State, and instructed the officials to approach the Singapore government, explain the happenings in the past five years, and make concerted efforts in the direction of sailing together with mutual understanding and trust to achieve development. “After holding thorough discussions and considering the opinions of all sections of people, we have entered into agreements. But the previous government damaged the prestige of the State by cancelling those agreements all of a sudden. Such Jaya Mangala Venkata Ramana to Join Jana Sena B S N M a l l es w a r a R a o @ Vijayawada WITH THIS ISSUE India’s Scamdemic PLUS 12 PAGES Prominent BC leader from Kaikaluru Assembly constituency Jaya Mangala Venkata Ramana has submitted his resignation to his MLC post and the YSR Congress Party primary membership. According to the sources, he is set to join the Jana Sena Party in the presence of its president and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan soon. It is learnt from highly placed sources that former minister Balineni Srinivasa Red- dy who left the YSRCP and joined , the JSP recently played a key role , in Jaya Mangala’s decision, which was announced on Saturday The . JSP may request Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to allot the MLC seat to nominate one of its leaders after Jaya Mangala’s resignation is accepted by the Legislative Council Chairman, and the seat falls vacant. Already three such resignations are pending with the Chairman. Jaya Mangala was elected to the Council from the Local Authorities ConstituP4 ency in March 2023. 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. Pawan’s magic works in Maha polls S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan, who won all the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats contested by his party, in alliance with the TDP and the BJP in Andhra Pradesh, has once again repeated the cent percent strike rate in Maharashtra polls as the Maha Yuti won all the constituencies covered by him as part of his election campaign on November 16 and 17. He covered 11 Assembly con- Priyanka Gandhi Vadra flashes the victory sign in New Delhi CM keen to restore ties with Singapore E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada 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 tadepalligudem l sunday l november 24, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city 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 ■ imprudent decisions caused a great damage to the State globally,” the Chief Minister observed. In fact, Naidu during a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently, urged him to help the State in roping in the Singapore government to collaborate with Andhra Pradesh in the development of Amaravati Capital City . In a post on social media platform X on Friday the TDP supremo , congratulated the Maha Yuti for registering a resounding victory in t h e M a h a r a s h t r a A s s e m bly elections. express read PM to lay stone for green hydrogen hub on Nov 29 Visakhapatnam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually lay the foundation stone for India’s largest green hydrogen hub, a project being developed by NGEL at Pudimadaka in Anakapalle district on November 29. 7 workers killed as RTC bus collides with auto Anantapur: Seven agricultural workers were killed and five others injured when a speeding APSRTC bus collided with an auto at the Thalagasipalli Cross Road in Garladinne mandal of Anantapur district on Saturday | P3 stituencies, including Deglur, Bhokar, Solapur Central, Solapur North, Solapur South, Ballarpur, Chandrapur, Pune Cantonment, Hadapsar and Kasba Peth, and Nanded Lok Sabha segment. All the candidates supported by the Jana Sena Party chief emerged victorious in the elections. What is more interesting is that the BJP has registered its maiden victory in Deglur, besides winning Latur Rural Assembly seat though it lost P4 Latur Urban.