How Vidarbha region was crucial for Mahayuti victory – Firstpost

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti appears to have bounced back from its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. Early trends indicate a comfortable lead for the ruling party in the National Assembly polls.

According to the official website of the Election Commission of India (ECI), Mahayuti is leading across the state. The BJP has won 2 seats and is leading in 124 others, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has won one and is leading in 54 others, and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is leading in 40 .

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Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is lagging behind the Mahayuti. According to ECI data, Congress is leading in 20 seats, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is leading in 17 seats, while Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar faction is leading in 12.

In Vidarbha, an agrarian belt of eastern Maharashtra, the BJP is leading in most constituencies. This region, comprising 11 districts and 62 Assembly seats, is known for cotton farming but is often considered less developed than the western and coastal areas of the state.

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Why was Vidarbha so crucial?

Home to a large population of large and small farmers, this region has the second highest number of Assembly seats after Western Maharashtra. This makes the region important for government formation.

The road to the throne of Maharashtra passes through Vidarbha.

The region is notably home to key BJP leaders such as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and state Congress chief Nana Patole. Fadnavis is contesting from Nagpur South West, while Patole is contesting from Sakoli. The BJP is contesting the highest number of seats (47) in Vidarbha.

Vidarbha, which has a fifth of the state’s population, also has a strong presence of Dalit, Marathi, Kunbi and Muslim communities. During the election campaign, the opposition MVA party targeted the ruling party on issues such as reservations, soybean prices and minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The opposition also highlighted the number of farmer suicides in the region, which reached 1,439 cases in 2023, the highest in the state.

The importance of Vidarbha in the electoral strategies of the two national parties is also evident from the frequent visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Once a Congress stronghold

Vidarbha was historically a Congress stronghold until the BJP emerged in the 1990s. As in the past, several political heavyweights from both alliances are contesting in this region for the ongoing assembly elections. Key figures include Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and state Congress president Nana Patole.

Congress leader and former minister Anees Ahmed said India Times“Vidarbha holds the key to power and this has been the case since the days of Indira Gandhi. As a party, we have fielded a large number of MPs in this region and are confident of winning the maximum number of seats there, which will ultimately ensure the return of the MVA to power.”

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The BJP, recognizing the importance of Vidarbha in the election numbers game, has also prioritized the region. Deaven Dasture, joint treasurer of the BJP municipal unit, told the newspaper: “This region is the only one where national parties dominate, so the battle for us is with the Congress. So winning maximum seats in Vidarbha is crucial for everyone and we are working hard on it.

He added that beyond the numbers, Vidarbha is important because many decision-makers belong to this region. The main BJP candidates include Fadnavis, Bawankule and several ministers. For the Congress, senior leaders such as Nana Patole, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar and Yashomati Thakur are contesting from Vidarbha.

What has changed for Mahayuti this time in Vidarbha?

Despite ongoing agricultural challenges, including sub-MSP rates for cotton and soybeans, the Mahayuti alliance is moving ahead in the region.

Talk to The Indian Expresssaid farm activist Vijay Jawandhiya, that the results show the success of the Majhi Mukhya Mantri Ladki Behin Yogna which saw the state government directly depositing ₹1,500 into the bank accounts of eligible women.

“Money, after all, is money – people saw how quickly money was deposited into bank accounts. This is one of the main reasons why people decided to vote for Mahayuti just a few months after voting for MVA in the Loksabha elections,” he said. IE.

Additionally, Mahayuti benefited from his ability to manage internal disputes and effectively manage rebellions within the alliance. Meanwhile, the MVA grappled with internal divisions in Vidarbha and faced challenges from strong independent candidates that weakened the prospects of official candidates, the report said.

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Senior Pawar’s strategy of integrating disgruntled leaders before the Assembly elections does not seem to have borne fruit, and his approach of “targeting” those who switched to Ajit Pawar’s faction during the rebellion 2023 was also not effective, IE said in the report.

What happened in the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections in Vidarbha?

In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJP scored a huge victory in Vidarbha, winning 44 of the 62 seats. The Congress managed to win only 10 seats. Under the leadership of Nagpur South West MLA Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister, the BJP-led alliance established a stable government throughout its tenure. The 2014 elections were also notable as the four major parties ran independently, testing their strengths.

In 2019, however, the BJP’s tally in Vidarbha fell to 29 seats, a loss of 15 seats compared to 2014. This decline weakened its bargaining power in the pre-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena. This reduced number contributed to a loss of influence, ultimately leading to the collapse of the alliance due to disputes over the position of the chief minister.

What happened in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance faced a major setback in Vidarbha, securing only three seats out of ten. Statewide, the Mahayuti alliance managed to win only 17 of Maharashtra’s 48 seats. The BJP itself won only nine of the 28 seats it contested, a sharp drop from the 23 out of 25 seats it won in the 2019 general election.

Recognizing the importance of Vidarbha, the BJP has fielded candidates for 47 of the 150 Assembly seats in the region, while the Congress has allocated around 40 per cent of its 102 candidates from Maharashtra to Vidarbha.

Amitabh Tiwari, a Mumbai-based political analyst, said Mint“The road to the throne of Maharashtra passes through Vidarbha. The battle here decides which way the wind blows.

Historically, Vidarbha has been a major factor in determining who will form the government in Maharashtra. This is why leaders from both camps, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, have focused heavily on their campaign in the region.