Election results: NDA set to stun in Maharashtra, INDIA to retain Jharkhand

At 1 pm, the trends showed that the NDA was leading on 224 seats out of the total 288 in Maharashtra, while the INDIA bloc was ahead on 51 of the 81 seat Jharkhand Assembly

Even as vote counting for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections is underway on Saturday (November 23), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) held a decisive lead in Maharashtra as of 1 pm, while the Congress-led INDIA alliance was ahead of the majority mark in Jharkhand. 

In Maharashtra, where the race for the 288-seat Assembly is underway, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has stolen a significant march over the Congress-backed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Key candidates for the Mahayuti include Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar. On the MVA side, prominent figures include Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, and Yugendra Pawar. 

 

Meanwhile, Jharkhand’s 81-seat Assembly contest has the INDIA alliance facing off against the NDA. Chief Minister Hemant Soren -- who is the target of a land-scam investigation by the Enforcement Directorate -- is seeking re-election, with his wife Kalpana Soren and brother Basant Soren among the alliance’s notable candidates. The BJP’s lineup includes former chief ministers Babulal Marandi, Champai Soren, and Geeta Koda. 

Maharashtra results: Who is leading as of 1 pm? 

By 1 pm, trends indicated that the Mahayuti was leading in over 224 of the 288 seats, while the opposition MVA was ahead in a mere 55 constituencies. Independent candidates and smaller parties were leading in nine seats.  Maharashtra Election Results   

Jharkhand: Who is ahead? 

In Jharkhand, the INDIA alliance was ahead in 51 seats according to the 1 pm trends, while the NDA led in 29 constituencies. Two seats were being contested by other candidates. Kalpana Soren, wife of incumbent Chief Minister Hemant Soren, was in a neck-and-neck battle with BJP’s Muniya Devi while Soren himself was comfortably ahead from his Barhait seat. 

What did the exit polls predict? 

While most exit polls suggested a narrow win for the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, at least two which released their numbers a day after polls closed, pointed to an overwhelming victory margin for the BJP-led grouping. However, analysts caution that early trends can be unreliable, as the initial counting typically includes postal ballots before moving on to electronic voting machine (EVM) results. The postal ballot system allows eligible voters to cast their votes in advance or remotely if they are unable to vote in person on election day. Typically, however, postal ballots are only a fraction of the total votes polled and counted.  

In Jharkhand, exit polls also forecast a strong showing for the NDA, in line with early trends. Nevertheless, the accuracy of exit polls is not guaranteed, and the final outcome, as declared by the Election Commission of India (ECI), will only be confirmed after the vote count is complete.