Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, 2014

Maharashtra State Assembly election, 2014

15 October 2014

All 288 seats to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly 145 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Devendra Fadnavis[1] Uddhav Thackeray Prithviraj Chavan[2] Party BJP Shiv Sena INC Leader's seat Nagpur South West[3] Did not contest[4] Karad South[5] Last election 46 seats 45 seats 82 seats Seats won 122 63 42 Seat change 76 18 40   Fourth party   Leader Ajit Pawar[6] Party NCP Leader's seat Baramati[7] Last election 62 seats Seats won 41 Seat change 21

Chief Minister before election Prithviraj Chavan INC Elected Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis[1] BJP

A legislative assembly election was held on 15 October 2014, in a single phase, to select the 288 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in India. The result was announced on 19 October,^[8] with the BJP getting a plurality.

Background

Following the Maharashtra State Assembly election, 2009, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—Indian National Congress (INC) alliance won a majority and formed the government.

Alliances

Following the NCP-INC alliance's performance in the Indian general election, 2014, the NCP demanded 144 seats to contest and a rotation of the Chief Minister's post between parties. Both parties held negotiations but failed to reach a conclusion. The INC declared its list of candidates for 118 seats on 25 September without consulting the NCP. Thus, the NCP unilaterally severed its 15-year-old alliance with the INC. The INC later reached out to the Samajwadi Party (SP) to form an alliance.^[9][10]

The Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) were alliance partners for 25-years - including several smaller parties, such as Republican Party of India (Athawale), Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, were also a part. After the general election, the BJP demanded additional seats to contest; initially they requested 144 seats but later reduced their demand to 130 seats. The Shiv Sena offered 119 seats to the BJP and 18 seats to four other allies, keeping 151 to contest itself. After several rounds of negotiations, the parties did not reach a conclusion. Thus the Shiv Sena - BJP alliance ended on the 25 September as well.^[10][11]

Parties

• Indian National Congress
• Nationalist Congress Party
• National Democratic Alliance
  • Bharatiya Janata Party
  • Swabhimani Paksha
  • Rashtriya Samaj Paksha
  • Republican Party of India (Athavale)
  • Shiv Sangram
• Shiv Sena
• Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
• Peasants and Workers Party of India
• Samajwadi Party
• All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
• Republican Sena
• Bahujan Mukti Party
• Communist Party of India (Marxist)
• Bahujan Samaj Party
• Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh

Campaign

Indian National Congress

The incumbent Indian National Congress started its campaign on 1 September at Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai. Prithviraj Chavan, the incumbent Chief Minister led the campaign with Narayan Rane heading the Campaign Committee. The party's advertising campaign began on 20 September.^[12][13]

Nationalist Congress Party

The Nationalist Congress Party began its campaign in Kolhapur on 16 September with national party President Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra party President Sunil Tatkare and MP from Kolhapur Dhananjay Mahadik attending the rally.^[14]

Bharatiya Janata Party

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in South Mumbai's Mahalaxmi Racecourse after his return from the U.S. for the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena started its campaign at Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai on 27 September, where party leader Uddhav Thackeray addressed its supporters.^[15]

Election

A total of 4,119 candidates contested the election.^[16] Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) along with EVMs was used in 13 constituencies:^[17] Wardha, Amravati (2 pockets),^[18] Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Nashik (3 pockets), Aurangabad (3 pockets) and Ahmednagar (2 pockets).^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

Exit polls

Result

  Bharatiya Janata Party: 122 seats

  Shiv Sena: 63 seats

  Indian National Congress: 42 seats

  Nationalist Congress Party: 41 seats

  Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi: 3 seats

  Peasants and Workers Party of India: 3 seats

  All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen: 2 seats

  Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh: 1 seats

  Communist Party of India (Marxist): 1 seats

  Maharashtra Navnirman Sena: 1 seats

  Rashtriya Samaj Paksha: 1 seats

  Samajwadi Party: 1 seats

  Independent: 7 seats

Party-wise vote share of the 50,105,123 votes cast^[29]

  Bharatiya Janata Party (27.8%)

  Shiv Sena (19.3%)

  Indian National Congress (18.0%)

  Nationalist Congress Party (17.2%)

  Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (3.7%)

  Independent (4.7%)

  Other (9.3%)

Party	Seats won	Votes	Vote %	Seat change
Bharatiya Janata Party	122	14,709,455	27.8%
Shiv Sena	63	10,235,972	19.3%
Indian National Congress	42	9,496,144	18.0%
Nationalist Congress Party	41	9,122,299	17.2%
Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi	3	329,457	0.6%
Peasants and Workers Party of India	3	533,309	1.0%
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen	2	489,614	0.9%
Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh	1	472,925	0.9%
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	1	207,933	0.4%
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena	1	1,665,033	3.7%
Rashtriya Samaj Paksha	1	256,662	0.5%
Samajwadi Party	1	92,304	0.2%
Independent	7	2,494,016	4.7%	N/A
Total[29]	288	50,105,123	100%	N/A

List of winning candidates

The following is the list of candidates won:^[29]

• (died on 27 October 2014 of a cardiac arrest) ^[30]
• (died on 9 January 2015 a prolonged illness) ^[31]

Reactions

INC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said: "Let me equally and candidly admit that in Maharashtra, we have had not only real but a perception of corruption also and that has been unfortunately and mostly attributed to our coalition partner. That has got us bad press and negative points. Some of it had been Congress but the overall impact has been negative...it is something very serious and sad and suitably depressing if they (the trends) turn out to be true. We have to take corrective action which we would."^[32]

The NCP's losing candidate Nawab Malik^[33] added blame for its former alliance partner, the INC: "It all happened because of Chavan. He had no understanding of the issues in Maharashtra, he did not take the right decisions, and he didn't act when he had to. He is responsible for the state of both the Congress and the NCP."^[32]

Media

It was speculated that possible government formations would include BJP-Shiv Sena, BJP-NCP or NCP-Shiv Sena with outside support from the INC.^[34]

Government formation

With the BJP having won a plurality, the NCP offered outside support to the BJP, according to Praful Patel.^[35] The NCP offer was read as putting the Shiv Sena under pressure by NDTV saying it gave the BJP "mega-clout" in negotiations with the Shiv Sena.Amit Shah did not turn down the offer saying that the party's parliamentary board, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi would discuss options. Other unnamed BJP members said the Shiv Sena was "a natural fit" with the party. Other unnamed BJP members said they expected the Shiv Sena to seek the post of deputy chief minister as well as more ministers in the national government. Unnamed Shiv Sena spokespeople told NDTV that, as potential kingmaker, Uddhav Thackeray would decide the next steps "in Maharashtra's best interest." ^[36] Finally, BJP and Shiv Sena agreed to come together and form the government.

See also

• 2014 elections in India

References

External links

• Assembly Election, Election Commission of India

Elections in India
General elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1945 1951–52 1957 1962 1967 1971 1977 1980 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004 2009 2014 next
State elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1937 1946 1952 1954 1955 1957 1960 1961 1962 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
See also: Elections in Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal