Congress improves tally as MNS hurts NDA

The Congress added to its 2004 Lok Sabha tally in Maharashtra,brushing aside indications of anti-incumbency.

In a performance that surprised politicians and pollsters,the Congress added to its 2004 Lok Sabha tally in Maharashtra,brushing aside indications of anti-incumbency. But the numbers showed that the results were more a product of political arithmetic than a positive vote for the Congresswhile Raj Thackerays Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS hurt Shiv Sena-BJP candidates,the BSP underperformed and failed to dent the UPA.

Of the 48 seats,the Congress improved its tally from 13 in 2004 to 17,although its allies NCP and RPI performed poorly. The NCP had won nine seats in the last polls and managed to wrest one more from the BJP in a by-election. However,its tally dwindled to eight seats this time. RPIA leader Ramdas Athawale,who had won the Pandharpur seat in the last polls,could not repeat his feat from Shirdito which he had shifted after Pandharpur was dereserved and wiped off the map after delimitationas he lost to the Senas Bhausaheb Wakchaure.

The Congress-NCP alliance won 25 seats,three more than in 2004,while the Sena-BJP garnered 20. In 2004,the saffron combine had won 25 seats. Three seats have been bagged by IndependentsSadashiv Mandlik Kolhapur,Raju Shetty Hatkanangale,and Baliram Jadhav Palghar. Mandlik was elected on an NCP ticket in 2004,but rebelled after being denied a ticket.

The improvement in the tally of the Congress was facilitated by the presence of the MNS in 12 seatssix in Mumbai,three in Thane and one each in Pune,Nashik and Aurangabadwhich hurt the Sena-BJP in many of them. Besides,the BSP,which was hoping to open its account in the state and damage the chances of Congress-NCP,performed poorly across the state.

The MNS ruined the chances of prominent BJP-Sena leaders like Ram Naik Mumbai North,Kirit Somaiya Mumbai North-East,Datta Gaikwad Nashik and Mohan Rawle Mumbai South. However,the Senas Anant Gite defeated Union minister A.R. Antulay in Raigad. Though the Sena managed to win 11 seats,one less compared to 2004,the defeats in the Mumbai-Thane belt hit it hard.

A gradual fall in the rate of farmers suicides in the crisis-hit Vidarbha region seems to have worked in favour of the UPA,particularly over the last five months. In fact in April,when Maharashtra voted,Vidarbha recorded the lowest number of suicides in its six troubled districts in the last 40 months,when 49 people killed themselves. In 2004,the Congress-NCP was virtually routed here,winning only one of the 11 seats. This time,post delimitation,it has won 5 and contributed handsomely to the overall UPA tally of 25 in the state.

While the results have given a boost to the Congress in the state,they have delivered a jolt to its ally NCP,which was projecting Sharad Pawar as the prime ministerial candidate in event of a fractured mandate. The NCP,which suffered badly,lost Jalgaon erstwhile Erandol,which it had wrested from the BJP in a by-election after the cash-for-query scandal. The NCP also suffered losses in its bastion of western Maharashtra.

Maharashtra

amp;149; A.R. Antulay loses in Raigad by 1,45,923 votes

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amp;149; Fall in Vidarbha suicides works in favour of UPA

amp;149; Sena,BJP blame Raj Thackeray for poor show