Breaking down Maha results: BJP�s consistent rise & Congress's steep fall since 1990s

Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS) The recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections sprang up a welcome surprise for the ruling MahaYuti alliance and shock defeat for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), as the former shot to its best-ever show while the latter recorded its worst-ever performance.

Another remarkable outcome of the polls was that this election came out as more of a BJP and Congress contest rather than a MahaYuti- MVA face-off, as anticipated before the polls.

As the heat and dust of the poll battle stands settled now, a detailed assessment of the election results shows another interesting trend i.e. BJP’s sustained ascent and Congress’ continuous downslide since the 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, Congress and BJP were two leading parties in the state, pocketing close to 150 seats in the 288-member Assembly while regional satraps like NCP and Shiv Sena also commanded a good vote share among the voters.

With the passage of time, Congress tally continued to dwindle while BJP’s numbers showed a consistent rise, with the former maintaining a slender lead over the latter. The year 2014, when the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre, marked a turning point for BJP as its tally zoomed past the 100 mark and spelt doom for the grand old party.

Since 2014, BJP has been bagging more than 100 seats in Assembly elections, with 2024 being its best performance (132) while Cong’s falling graph hitting an abyss, with its worst-ever show (16 seats), to date.

As per Election Commission data, BJP won 132 seats and its alliance partners SS and NCP garnered 57 and 41 seats while MVA constituents Congress, SS (UBT) and NCP-SP bagged 16, 20 and 10 seats respectively in the 2024 Assembly polls.

BJP also managed a whopping strike rate of over 89 per cent, winning 132 out of 145 seats it contested while its allies Eknath Shinde-led SS and Ajit Pawar-led NCP commanded a strike rate of over 70 per cent. For Congress and its allies, their strike rate remained at a humiliating low.