Two more exit polls — Axis My India and Today's Chanakya — predicted a sweeping victory for the Mahayuti on Thursday, a day after several pollsters gave a definitive edge to the ruling alliance in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Today's Chankya expects Mahayuti to secure 175 ± seats in the 288-member assembly and the rival Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to win around 100 ± seats.
Meanwhile, Axis My India has predicted that the ruling alliance is comfortably placed to secure around 178-200 seats, marking complete dominance in the state.
However, the agency said there's likely to be a 2 percent gap between the vote share of Mahayuti and rival Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The results of the closely-contested Maharashtra polls, which were held in a single phase on November 20, will be declared on November 23.
On Wednesday, a poll of nine exit polls gave the Mahayuti, which includes BJP, the Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP group led by Ajit Pawar, 150 seats.
On the other hand, the aggregate of these polls predicted 125 seats for the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) faction.
The only outlier was Electoral Edge, which said that the MVA will form the government in the state with a projection of 150 seats.
The political scenario in Maharashtra has undergone significant transformations since the last assembly elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance—comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), and Ajit Pawar’s NCP—is striving to retain power. Opposing them is the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction.
In the 2019 assembly elections, BJP and the then-undivided Shiv Sena scripted a decisive victory in the state. The BJP secured 105 seats, marking a loss of 17 from its 2014 tally, while its ally, the Shiv Sena, won 56 seats, down by seven compared to the previous election.
However, a tussle over power-sharing prompted Uddhav Thackeray to walk out of the NDA and form a coalition government with NCP and Congress.
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