BJP won big despite five-cornered contest in Maharashtra

According to data analysed by HT, nearly 40% of the seats the BJP won were with margins of more than 30,000 votes. It won only 5% of its seats with margins of less than 3,000 votes.

While the BJP may have won the largest share of seats, a closer look at the results reveals the victory has been decisive. Poll data reveals the BJP, in the process of emerging as the single-largest party, had the most MLAs who won with margins of more than 30,000 votes.

According to data analysed by HT, nearly 40% of the seats the BJP won were with margins of more than 30,000 votes. It won only 5% of its seats with margins of less than 3,000 votes.

This, then, is in stark contrast to its estranged partner Shiv Sena’s victory. Of all the four mainstream parties, the Sena won a majority of its seats by very small margins. Of the 63 seats in its kitty, the Sena won 8% of seats with less than 1,000 votes and another 10% of seats with less than 3,000 votes. As against the BJP’s nearly 40%, the Sena has won just 22% of its total seats with margins of more than 30,000 votes.

This shows that, as against the BJP, the Sena’s victories were more hard fought with the Sena managing to scrape through most. This, many believe, could be also because of a five-cornered contest that the state saw this time. “The low margins only show that the multi-pronged contest affected our party a lot and reduced our margins quite a bit,” said a Sena leader, on the condition of anonymity.

Among the ousted Congress and the NCP, it was the latter that sprang up some surprise trends. After the BJP, it was the NCP, facing a lot of flak for corruption charges against its ministers, which managed to have the second-highest proportion of seats won by margins more than 30,000 at 31%.

It managed to do so by managing to get most of its top leaders re-elected with huge margins. For instance, despite the allegations of corruption against him, former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar managed the highest margin in the state, winning by over 89,000 votes.

The Congress, too, despite the anti-incumbency it faced, saw a huge percentage — nearly 62% — of its seats being won by margins between 10,000 and 30,000 votes.