Bruised in LS, how NDA got its groove back

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti won 235 of the 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra, with the BJP itself winning 132 of the 149 seats it contested for a strike rate of 88.5%; its allies the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party won 57 and 41 of the 81 and 59 seats they contested, respectively.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

If the results were surprising—in terms of magnitude if not the direction—attribute it to the summer's Lok Sabha elections, in which, of the state's 48 seats, the Mahayuti could win only 17, with the Opposition, the Maha Vikas Aghadi winning 30.

If the results were surprising, attribute it to the fact that the Mahayuti was the incumbent, facing charges of poor governance and mismanagement.

And if the results were surprising, attribute it to the fact that the Mahayuti came to power after the BJP engineered a split in the Shiv Sena, and that it consolidated power by engineering another split, in the Nationalist Congress Party, and many experts believed the cynical alliance-making had turned off some voters.

But the Mahayuti surprised everyone.

For it ran a much better campaign than the MVA—in terms of not just issues but also managing the dynamics of the alliance.

Party leaders credit the win to the Mahayuti's welfare schemes, notably the Ladki Bahin one that was launched in August, and which gives ₹1,500 to eligible women beneficiaries. They credit the win to the BJP's gambit of doubling down on its Hindutva agenda, consolidating the Hindu vote across classes and communities. They credit it to an efficient, and region-specific campaign that addressed hot-button local issues. And they credit it to the role played by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological parent which was conspicuous in its absence during the Lok Sabha campaign.

Preparation