Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (3rd from right), his wife and JMM leader Kalpana Soren (4th right) celebrate with family members after the victory of JMM-led INDIA bloc in the Jharkhand Assembly elections, in Ranchi, on Saturday (November 23). Photo: X/@HemantSorenJMM
Elections LIVE | Maharashtra votes in Mahayuti again, Jharkhand retains INDIA bloc
Will Devendra Fadnavis and Hemant Soren become Chief Ministers? Government formation talks on
Few predicted it, and in an election that was supposed to be close, the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is headed for a landslide win in Maharashtra, bagging over 200 seats. In Jharkhand again, the outcome has not gone as per the script, with INDIA Bloc making a stunning comeback, in a late swing of seats.
As per the latest updates, the BJP-led alliance is winning in 225 seats, with the Maha Vikas Aghadi tottering at 55. In Jharkhand, INDIA Bloc is ahead in 51 seats, and NDA in 29.
Here are the bypoll updates from across states:
Kerala: Congress leads in Palakkad and Wayanad (LS); Left in Chelakkara
Karnataka: Congress leads in all three seats
Uttar Pradesh: BJP leads in six seats; SP 3
Punjab: AAP leads in 2 seats; Congress 2
Rajasthan: Congress, BJP and Bharat Adivasi Party lead in two seats each
West Bengal: Trinamool Congress leads in all six Assembly seats
Bihar: NDA leads in two seats.
Uttarakhand: BJP leads
With a dramatic change in its political dynamics over the last two and a half years following a split in the regional forces like Shiv Sena and NCP, Maharashtra witnessed an intense battle between the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) grouping. The Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde), and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, while the MVA has Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) as its constituents.
Also read: Graphic Explainer | Maharashtra polls: Six regions, and their electoral dynamics
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Jharkhand witnessed a fierce electoral battle between the ruling JMM-led INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA, with the former seeking to retain power and the latter attempting to wrest it from the ruling dispensation.The NDA attacked the JMM-led coalition over corruption and infiltration, criticising ruling party leaders, including the chief minister, who is out on bail. Hemant Soren hit out at the saffron camp, alleging that the Opposition party spent over Rs 500 crore on "malicious campaigns" against him.
Also read: BJP’s aggression over ‘infiltrators’ undercuts JMM in key tribal hubs
Read the live updates here.
Live Updates
- 23 Nov 2024 7:26 PM IST
Fadnavis wins from Nagpur South West seat, victory margin dips
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis won the assembly polls from Nagpur South West seat defeating his Congress rival Prafulla Gudhade Patil by a margin of 39,710 votes.
Fadnavis received 129401 votes, while Patil secured 89,691 votes. However, the BJP stalwart's victory margin reduced by 9,643 votes when compared to the 2019 polls.
He has won from the seat for the fourth time. This is Fadnavis' sixth assembly poll win. In 1999 and 2004 he had won from Nagpur West.
- 23 Nov 2024 7:15 PM IST
TMC faced BJP, as well as INDIA bloc, to win WB bypolls convincingly: Derek O'Brien
The Trinamool Congress overcame challenges from both the BJP and INDIA bloc allies Congress and the Left to win all the six assembly seats in West Bengal where bypolls were held, senior party leader Derek O'Brien said on Saturday.
The Trinamool Congress, which is a part of the INDIA bloc at the national level but is not in a seat-sharing agreement in the state, said his party won all the six seats "convincingly".
"The Trinamool convincingly won all the six assembly seats that went for bypolls. Other than the BJP, we were also facing two of the INDIA bloc parties, Congress and CPM who put up candidates in every seat," O'Brien said.
He, however, refused to comment on the performance the INDIA bloc. "We do not have an electoral alliance with any party in the bloc, so this is not a question we need to answer," the TMC's Parliamentary Party Leader in Rajya Sabha said.
Reinforcing its hold over West Bengal which has been seeing prolonged protests over the RG Kar Medical College incident, the ruling TMC won all six seats that went to polls.
Five of the six constituencies are located in South Bengal, a TMC stronghold, while Madarihat is in the north, which the BJP had won in 2021.
- 23 Nov 2024 7:06 PM IST
Maharashtra poll outcome 'inexplicable', level-playing field disturbed in targeted manner: Congress
The Congress on Saturday described the Maharashtra poll outcome as "inexplicable" and claimed that the level-playing field was disturbed in a targeted manner as part of a conspiracy to defeat it.
The opposition party, however, hailed the result in Jharkhand, saying the people of the state had categorically rejected the "politics of polarisation" peddled by the BJP.
"The Maharashtra assembly poll result is surprising, inexplicable for us," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, stressing that it was not a victory of development, as projected by the BJP.
"The Maharashtra outcome has been brought out through a targeted conspiracy after the level-playing field was disturbed in the state to defeat the Congress... Our morale is not down and we will strengthen the organisation and analyse the results," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.
"We won and lost today but the Congress' agenda will not change and we will keep raising the issues that we have been raising such as that of caste census, raising reservation limit of 50 per cent, growing economic disparity and 'Modani'," Ramesh said, adding that the people of Maharashtra had not rejected these issues, as projected by the BJP.
He said the Maharashtra results were opposite to the ground situation in the state a few months ago.
"We will analyse the poll outcome and come out with measures to strengthen the organisation and revive it in the state and continue to raise the issues that we have been raising," he said.
"We will keep raising questions on electoral transparency and there will be no change in our agenda," Ramesh said.
