Election Results: Amid Losses across Seats, Traditional Urban Voters Save BJP In Haryana and Maharashtra

New Delhi: Although faced with losses in a number of seats in both Haryana and Maharashtra, it turns out that the BJP’s traditional vote base in urban constituencies has saved the day for the saffron party.

For instance, while the BJP in Haryana secured a tally of 40 Assembly seats in a 90-seat House with an overall loss of seven seats over 2014, it won 17 of the 26 urban seats in the state -- similar to what it had won in the previous polls.

The Congress won seven urban seats in Haryana whereas one each went to the Jananayak Janata party (JJP) and an Independent candidate.

Among these, there were 11 urban seats the BJP retained from the previous state elections whereas it dethroned others in the remaining six.

Similarly, of the 58 urban Assembly segments on offer in Maharashtra, the BJP went home with half of them, or 29 seats, compared to the 28 it had won in 2014. The number of the Shiv Sena, its alliance partner, remained unchanged on 18 Assembly seats. Incidentally, both parties had contested the 2014 Assembly elections but had joined hands to form the government in the state.

Among opposition parties, the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) settled for four urban seats each, as per Thursday’s results. While the NCP had won the same number of urban segments in 2014, the Congress had registered victory in five in the previous elections.

Overall, as per wins/leads till 6:45 pm in Maharashtra, the BJP looked set to win in 103 Assembly seats in the 288-strong house, a decline of 19 seats compared to the 2014 results. The Sena is likely to win 57 seats, down from 63 five years ago.

The Congress and the NCP, on the other hand, recorded gains in their numbers with 45 and 53 seats, respectively. The Congress had won 42 while the NCP had won 41 in the previous polls. Other parties, including Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), among others, are likely to bag 30 seats in the Assembly.

The BJP in Haryana appears to be in a comfortable position to form the next government with support from others. But Congress state in-charge and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, buoyed by the party’s success (31 seats), has appealed to the JJP, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Independents to unite to form a non-BJP government in the state.