BJP gets majority in Haryana, is largest party in Maharashtra; Congress' free-fall continues

New Delhi: BJP is all set to form government in Haryana but the saffron party will have to look for an alliance partner in Maharashtra as it appears to fall short of majority in the 288-seat state Assembly, even as the slide for Congress continues with the party staring at a humiliating defeat in both the states.

As per the trends available till 1 pm, BJP has won 17 seats and leading in 102 others in Maharashtra. Its former ally the Shiv Sena has also put put an impressive performance with the party winning 11 and leading in 42 other constituencies. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is competing for a close second vis-a-vis Sena with wins/leads in 49 seats.

The Congress seems to have lost its ground further and the party is trailing with the figures of 42 (wins/trends). Former chief minister Narayan Rane lost to Vaibhav Naik of Shiv Sena in Kudal seat of coastal Konkan.

Increasingly, it appears that the BJP is not set to get to 145 on its own. The NCP could make some noises indicating its willingness to do truck with the BJP, but BJP’s chief ministerial frontrunner Devendra Fadnavis reiterated just this morning that the Congress-NCP are the party’s political rivals, not the Shiv Sena.

The Sena has anyway already softened its stand following the exit poll numbers, having called for an end to enmity in day before’s edition of Saamna. The BJP-Sena are anyway a natural alliance, not only partners for 25 years and also partners in the NDA government at the Centre, but also together controlling their biggest cash cows in Maharashtra, the municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane and the others in the region.

In Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda conceded defeat and the party looks at a tally of 14 – well short of the 2009 figures of 40. Modi wave seems to have worked for BJP in the state as the party is likely to win 51 seats. INLD is also trailing with the party likely to win 18 seats. INLD’s Abhey Chautala called the results as surprising and alleged that the BJP has entered into a secret alliance with Dera Saccha Sauda.