Assembly elections: 24 seats see dip in turnout, half of them in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra

Marathwada is crucial for the BJP as in the Lok Sabha election this year, the party could not win a single seat from the region. The party’s poor performance in the region was attributed to the unrest over Maratha reservation agitation led by quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil.

Among the eight seats in Marathwada which saw a dip in turnout, three were in Beed district, home turf of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde and his cousin BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde. Two seats in Nanded district, the home turf of former chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan. also witnessed lower voter turnout compared to the 2019 Assembly polls.

In the Western Maharashtra region as well, as many as eight seats recorded a dip in turnout.

The region, known as the sugar belt, saw a fierce battle between the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP. The two factions were in straight fight in 41 constituencies across the state including 20 in Western Maharashtra.

With the state recording a voter turnout of 66.05 per cent in the November 20 election — the highest after 71. 7 per cent recorded in the 1995 Assembly polls — Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday that it could work in BJP’s advantage.

“Whenever there is an increase in polling, it works to the advantage of the BJP and its alliance partners. This is evident from our past experience,” Fadnavis told mediapersons at Nagpur airport.

The BJP leader also attributed the higher turnout to people “endorsing” the Mahayuti government due to its flagship project Ladki Bahin Yojana.

BJP’s poll managers cited multiple factors like anti-incumbency against candidates and caste as the reason for decline in turnout in 45 seats.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat also claimed that higher turnout indicates people’s support to the Mahayuti government

However, the opposition MVA feels the increase in voter turnout by nearly 4 per cent means a “vote for change”.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “Our reports show the mandate is for change. Maha Vikas Aghadi will emerge as the winner and form the government.”

In the Vidarbha region, where the BJP and Congress were in a straight fight in 36 seats, most constituencies saw an increase in voting. Out of the 62 seats in the region, which also saw unrest among farmers over the minimum support price for cotton and soybean, only two showed a drop in voter turnout.

Among these two seats is Sakoli, from where state Congress president Nana Patole was contesting, which saw the turnout drop to 70.82 per cent from 71.74 per cent in the 2019 polls.

In Nagpur South West, from where Fadnavis contested for a sixth term, recorded 54.49 per cent voter turnout as against 50.02 per cent in the 2019 polls.

Similarly, Kampti, from where state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule contested, the turnout increased by 4.11 percentage points.

In North Maharashtra, a BJP stronghold, only three out of 35 seats showed marginal drop in voting percentage.

During the Lok Sabha polls, BJP received a setback from the North Maharashtra which was attributed to the unrest among farmers who protested the ban on onion exports.

Of the 75 seats in the coastal Konkan stretch , including Mumbai (36) and Thane (24), only three seats recorded a marginal drop in voter turnout.

Out of the total 264 seats in the state where voting percentage increased, 102 recorded an increase of over 5 percentage points while 11 constituencies saw rise in turnout of over 10 percentage points.