Why coalition politics is here to stay in Maharashtra
In the last 34 years, no political party in Maharashtra has been able to achieve the halfway mark of 145 seats required to form a government on its own. This means that the coalition politics trend that gained a foothold in the state in 1995 is likely to continue once the Assembly election results are declared on Saturday with either the Mahayuti or the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalitions forming the government.
After a bitter battle for 288 Assembly seats, as the final countdown begins, both three-party alliances are leaving no stone unturned to confront the political challenges that are likely to emerge from the public mandate.
While the BJP contested the highest number of seats, 148, it will have to heavily depend on its partners, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, to cobble together the numbers. Similarly, the Congress, which has contested 101 seats, will also have to rely on the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP) to reach the magic mark if it gets a sizable vote.
The political history of Jharkhand
Seven politicians have become Chief Minister of Jharkhand since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000, but only one — Raghubar Das — has had an unbroken five years in the position. No party has won a majority of its own in the five Assemblies elected in the state so far. The BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have remained the dominant political players in the state.
In 2019, however, the BJP was reduced to 25 seats, and the JMM-Congress alliance won a majority in the Assembly. Hemant Soren became CM again, but had to resign after he was arrested in a case relating to an alleged land scam earlier this year.
He installed senior JMM leader Champai Soren in his place, but took back the chair on July 4 after returning from jail. A miffed Champai Soren is now with the BJP.
Maharashtra, an electoral history
Maharashtra, India’s richest state in per capita GDP, and home to big business, Bollywood, and large sugar cooperatives, was a Congress bastion once. Today, its political landscape is a complex patchwork of parties and factions, whose shifting allegiances determine the shape and composition of its governments.
The state has been seeing a turmoil, changing governments since the 2019 polls when the BJP got 105 seats 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.
