Explained: The electoral history of Maharashtra

The old Bombay province sprawled from Sindh (now in Pakistan) to northwestern Karnataka, and covered all of present-day Gujarat and about two-thirds of present-day Maharashtra (excluding a few princely states). Two Marathi-speaking regions — Vidarbha, a part of Central Provinces (later Madhya Pradesh), and Marathwada, a part of the princely state of Hyderabad — lay outside the province.

The demand for a united Marathi-speaking state emerged in the 1920s, and gained momentum after Independence. In 1953, Marathi leaders signed the Nagpur Pact seeking to unite Bombay State, Vidarbha, and Marathwada, even as the State’s Gujarati community led its own agitation for statehood.

The city of Bombay was caught between these two movements. Gujaratis had played the preeminent role in its rise as the country’s economic nerve centre, but it was surrounded by Marathi-speaking districts. As the linguistic division of the state became increasingly likely, many believed that Bombay would be made a Union Territory. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru even made announcements to this effect.

However, the States Reorganisation Commission recommended in 1956 that Bombay State should remain bilingual, since it was to the “mutual advantage” of the Gujarati and Marathi communities “to be partners in a great co-operative venture”. It recommended granting Vidarbha statehood, but the Centre rejected this, making it a part of Bombay State, along with Marathwada, instead.

Neither the Marathi nor the Gujarati side was happy with this outcome, and the agitation for statehood continued. The Centre finally agreed, and on May 1, 1960, Bombay State was bifurcated. The new states of Maharashtra and Gujarat got 264 and 132 of the erstwhile Bombay State’s 396 seats.

Era of Congress dominance

In the years following Independence, the Congress was the only major political force in Bombay State — and in the first Assembly election held in 1951-52, it won 269 of the 317 seats in the Assembly. There were 268 constituencies in all — some constituencies sent more than one member to the legislature at the time. Nashik-Igatpuri was the only three-member (one General category, one SC, and one ST) Assembly constituency in the country.

Morarji Desai became the first chief minister of Bombay in 1952. In 1955-56, as the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement raged, more than 100 protesters were killed in police firing in Bombay (Mumbai) city. In the face of intense criticism, Morarji, a Gujarati from Valsad, was moved to Delhi and made the Union Finance Minister in 1956. He was succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan, an MLA from Satara. Under Chavan’s leadership, the Congress won 234 of the 396 seats (339 constituencies) in the 1957 Assembly election.

In the 1962 Assembly election, the first to be held after the creation of Maharashtra, the Congress won 215 of the 264 seats, and Marotrao Shambshio Kannamwar became Chief Minister. Following his untimely demise the following year, the chief ministership passed to Vasantrao Naik, who remained in the post for almost 12 years.

In the 1967 elections, the Congress suffered setbacks in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, and West Bengal. But its dominance in Maharashtra continued — under Naik, the party won 203 of the 270 seats in the Assembly.

In 1969, the party split into two factions — the Congress (O) was led by the old guard of Morarji Desai and K Kamaraj, and the Congress R, where R stood for ‘Requisitionists’, by Indira Gandhi. The Congress (O), also known as the Syndicate, made inroads in many states — but failed to win even one seat in the Maharashtra Assembly in the 1972 election. Indira’s Congress swept 222 of the 270 seats.

In February 1975, weeks before the declaration of the Emergency, Chief Minister Naik was replaced by Shankarrao Chavan, a close ally of Indira and her son Sanjay Gandhi. Shankarrao remained Chief Minister through the Emergency.

Musical chairs for CM

In the 1977 Lok Sabha election, as an anti-Congress wave swept northern India, Indira’s Congress won 20 of Maharashtra’s 48 seats, one more than the Janata Party. Shankarrao took responsibility for the loss of seats and resigned. He was replaced by Vasantdada Patil, the MLA from Sangli.

The Janata Party regime at the Centre dismissed governments in nine states, but did not touch the one in Maharashtra. However, ahead of the 1978 election in the state, the Congress suffered another split, this time led by the Karnataka leader Devaraj Urs. Urs’s Congress (U) won 69 of the 288 seats, while Indira’s Congress won 62, and Janata 99. With no party close to the majority mark, Vasantdada Patil became Chief Minister again, leading a coalition of the two Congress factions.

This government, however, fell in less than four months. Sharad Pawar, only 38 at the time, left the Congress to form the Congress (Socialist) party — and joined hands with Janata to become the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra in July 1978.

Meanwhile, the Janata experiment collapsed at the Centre, and Indira stormed back to power in January 1980. She dismissed Pawar’s government soon afterward — and in the Assembly election that followed, the Congress won 186 seats and returned to power. In June, A R Antulay became Maharashtra’s first and only Muslim Chief Minister.

For the next decade-and-a-half, Congress leaders played a game of musical chairs for the Chief Ministership, even as the party remained in power in Maharashtra, winning 185 seats in 1985 and 141 in 1990. None of the eight CMs during this time — Antulay, Babasaheb Bhosale, Vasantdada Patil, Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, Shankarrao Chavan, Sharad Pawar (twice after returning to the Congress in 1986), and Sudhakarrao Naik — completed even three years in office.

This was a period dominated by corruption scandals, trade union unrest, the rise of criminal gangs in Bombay (Mumbai), and communal tensions.

The rise of Hindutva

It was in this climate that the Hindu right grew in strength in the state. Political cartoonist Bal Thackeray had formed the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena in 1966, and the party had its first MLA in 1972. The Shiv Sena was close to the likes of Vasantdada Patil in its early years; however, after the birth of the BJP in 1980, the two parties moved closer together as natural allies.

In the 1985 Assembly election, the BJP won 16 seats, while the Sena did not open its account. By 1990, however, the two parties’ tallies had risen to 52 and 42 seats respectively. The demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, and the communal riots and serial blasts that followed in Bombay (Mumbai) further fuelled the rise of the Hindutva right.

In 1995, the Sena-BJP alliance came to power in Maharashtra, winning 73 and 65 seats respectively. Manohar Joshi of the Sena became Chief Minister, with the BJP’s Gopinath Munde as his deputy. The victory was inspired by Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and the BJP’s rising star Pramod Mahajan. The Congress’ won 80 seats.

Joshi moved to the Centre after the 1998 Lok Sabha election, and Thackeray chose Narayan Rane to succeed him. In 1999, after four-and-a-half years of Sena-BJP rule, early elections were called in the state.

Congress returns, with NCP

Meanwhile, Pawar had once again broken away from the Congress, quitting in 1999 after Sonia Gandhi became leader of the party. Along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar, Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

This made the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly election a three-way fight among the NCP, Congress, and the Sena-BJP combine. The NCP won 58 seats, Congress 75, Sena 69, and BJP 56. With the Sena-BJP alliance falling short of the majority mark, Congress and NCP came together to form the government. Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress became Chief Minister, with NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal as his deputy.

This Congress-NCP coalition ruled the state for the next 15 years. During this time, Deshmukh became Chief Minister twice (1999-2003, 2004-08), while Sushil Kumar Shinde (2003-04), Ashok Chavan (2009-10), and Prithviraj Chavan (2010-14) enjoyed shorter stints.

Maharashtra in Modi years

When Assembly elections were held in 2014, Thackeray, Mahajan, and Munde — three key political figures in the state — were no longer there. The BJP campaign was led by Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah, and Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav was in charge of the Sena. The Narendra Modi wave sweeping through the country powered the Sena-BJP alliance to power in Maharashtra. The BJP alone won 122 seats, while Sena won 66. The BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, only 44 at the time, took oath as Chief Minister.

By the end of this term, however, differences had begun to emerge between the partners. The parties shared a common Hindutva base, and the BJP’s ambition to dominate the entire country was making the Sena insecure. Still, the partners won enough seats to be able to form the government after the 2019 election — the BJP got 105, and the Sena 56.

Their differences, however, proved to be the deal-breaker. With the Sena declining to cooperate, Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s nephew, promised to support Fadnavis on the floor of the House, and the former Chief Minister was hurriedly sworn into office. However, Ajit Pawar backed out, and Fadnavis was forced to resign merely five days later.

A new formation — the Maha Vikas Aghadi — comprising the Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP came to power. Uddhav was sworn in as Chief Minister, and Ajit became his deputy.

But this government too was toppled after Eknath Shinde, an old Sena hand, broke away from Uddhav to ally with the BJP, and become Chief Minister himself. Fadnavis became his deputy. They were supported by Ajit, who broke the NCP and became Deputy Chief Minister alongside Fadnavis. This alliance remains in power today. Earlier this year, former Congress CM Ashok Chavan, the son of Shankarrao Chavan, joined the BJP.