The 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Election, which resulted in a landslide victory for the ruling Mahayuti on Saturday, saw 15 seats won by a margin of more than 1 lakh votes, and 29 seats were won by a margin of more than 80,000 votes. This is a significant increase from 2019 when just four seats were won by a margin of more than 1 lakh votes and 13 seats were won by a margin of more than 80,000 votes. The 4.95 percentage point increase in voter turnout in 2024 as compared with the previous election could be one of the reasons for this increase in seats won by massive margins. This time, Kashiram Pawara won the Shirpur seat in Dhule by a margin of 1,45,944 votes, the highest among all seats. Pawara had also won the seat last time but by a margin of 49,174 votes. In 2019, Ajit Pawar had won Baramati by the highest margin in the election – 1,65,265 votes. This time Pawar won by a margin of just over 1 lakh votes. Baramati is also the only seat won by a margin of over 1 lakh in both elections. Seats won by small margin This election saw 36 seats that were won by a margin of less than 5,000 votes, and 70 seats that were won by a margin of less than 10,000 votes. In the 2019 election, 37 seats were won by a margin of 5,000 votes and 72 seats were won by a margin of 10,000 votes. This shows a striking similarity between the number of seats in 2019 and 2024 elections which were a close contest. However, of 36 seats won by a margin of less than 5,000 in 2024, only seven fell in the same category in 2019. These are Akola West, Nanded South, Ghansawangi, Akkalkuwa, Rajura, Jintur and Vadgaon Sheri. The closest margin in 2024 was seen in Malegaon Central which was won by Asif Rasheed of AIMIM by just 162 votes. Last election, this seat was won by Mohammed Khalique of the same party by a comfortable margin of over 38,000 votes. The closest margin in 2019 was seen in the Chandivali seat which Dilip Lande of undivided Shiv Sena won by 409 votes. This time Lande won Chandivali by a higher margin of 20,625 votes.
