How smaller parties were decimated in the polls

In the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, the Mahayuti's victory sidelined opposition parties, leaving smaller parties like MNS and BVA without any seats.

MUMBAI: The Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the 2024 assembly election not only led to a severe setback for parties in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), but also rendered the smaller parties, who were dreaming to become kingmakers, irrelevant. The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Hitendra Thakur-led Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) as well as Prahar Janshakti, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Swarajya Party and Swabhimani party have been pushed into the fringes.

How smaller parties were decimated in the polls

Raj Thackeray had predicted that he would be a part of the next government and Devendra Fadnavis will be next CM. He optimistically fielded his son Amit from Mahim, although chief minister Eknath Shinde had refused to withdraw his sitting MLA Sada Sarvankar from the fray. Amit finished a poor third. MNS’s lone sitting MLA Raju Patil also lost from Kalyan rural. In 2009, the party had 13 MLAs, which was reduced to one in 2014 and 2019 elections. This time, the party failed to get a single seat, prompting Raj to remark on X that “the results were unbelievable”.

When MNS entered the fray, MVA had sarcastically remarked they were here to cut votes. The Mahayuti gave its support to MNS’s Bala Nandgaonkar at Sewri and did not field any candidate, and yet he lost to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ajay Chaudhary by 7140 votes.

The BVA had contested on six seats and had three sitting MLAs from Vasai, Nallasopara and Boisar – the party lost all the seats. Given their influence in the Vasai-Virar-Palghar belt, they have in the past supported the ruling alliance on most occasions. A day before the polls, BVA chief Hitendra Thakur’s supporters had barged into a hotel and alleged that BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde was distributing money on behalf of the party’s candidate Rajan Naik.

They had hoped to win at least three seats. After the results were declared on Saturday, Thakur said, “We are shocked. God alone knows what led to our defeat.”

The VBA had contested on around 200 seats but did not win even one. Siddharth Mokle, spokesperson for the party, said, “We were only one party that fought for reservation. Both MVA and Mahayuti ran away from the issue. Mahayuti managed to divide people on the lines of religion. We expected to win at least five seats, which did not happen. We are stunned by this turn of events and will analyse what went wrong.”

A day before results were declared, head of VBA, Ambedkar had posted on X: “If VBA gets the numbers tomorrow, we will choose to be with a party that can form the government. We will choose power.” He did not react on Saturday.

Likewise, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, led by Mahadev Jankar, also failed to win a single seat, and refused to respond to calls from this paper. The Maharashtra Swarajya Party led by Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje, took out a big morcha to the Gateway of India recently to drive home the point that the memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was yet to be constructed in the Arabian Sea, as proposed by the Mahayuti government in 2018. The party also did not win a single seat.

The Jan Surajya Party, led by Vinay Kore of Kolhapur, however won two seats – Kore won from the Shahuwadi constituency, while Ashok Mane from Hatkanangle, both in Kolhapur district. The party is an ally of Mahayuti.

The Peasant and Workers Party (PWP) had fielded candidates from 16 seats and the MVA had helped the party by not fielding a candidate from one seat – Alibaug, Raigad district, where Chitralekha Patil, daughter-in-law of PWP leader Jayant Patil contested. She lost to Mahendra Dalvi of Shiv Sena, despite the party having a strong support base in Raigad.

The party won just one seat in Sangola, Solapur, where Babasaheb Deshmukh, grandson of late PWP leader Ganpatrao Deshmukh, had contested. On Saturday, Jayant Patil, said, “I can’t figure out what went wrong. We are in a state of shock.”

In the 2019 assembly election, AIMIM won two seats from Dhule city and Malegaon central. This time, they only managed to retain the Malagon central seat, from where its candidate Mufti Mohammed Ismail won against Aasif Sheikh Rashid of Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra.

The Samajwadi Party has retained its tally of two seats, with Abu Asim Azmi winning from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar and Rais Shaikh wining from Bhiwandi East.