Winner Takes it All

This election will have a deep impact on the secular-nationalist narrative in Indian politics

- MarginSpeak

THE Maharashtra Assembly election, set for November 20, 2024, with results expected on November 23, has become a high-stakes contest. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance, which includes Ajit Pawar’s breakaway faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, faces the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, composed of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar, and the Congress. Following the BJP’s recent win in Haryana—a comeback after setbacks in the Lok Sabha election—the outcome in Maharashtra, a state central to India’s economy and politics, will signal whether the BJP can reignite its political momentum and advance its ideological vision, or whether the Opposition forces can thwart its juggernaut.

The political landscape in Maharashtra after the 2019 state elections has been marked by a series of unseemly power games, resulting in multiple shifts in governance. The mandate giving the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance a majority fell out over power-sharing, with the Shiv Sena demanding a rotational chief ministerial position. This disagreement led to President’s Rule on November 12, 2019. In an unexpected turn, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister in a secretive early morning ceremony on November 23. As the 162 legislators moved the Supreme Court the day after, both Pawar and Fadnavis resigned on November 26 apprehending a no-confidence motion.