India’s main ruling party BJP-led alliance wins key state Maharashtra

NEW DELHI, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) — In what is seen as a major electoral victory, India’s main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance on Saturday won in the southwestern state of Maharashtra, which witnessed polling of votes three days ago.
Maharashtra’s state capital Mumbai is the country’s financial capital.
Counting of votes was still going on, but the trends indicated a tremendous comeback of the BJP-led alliance which had been ruling the state for the past two-and-a-half years.
Named “Mahayuti” (Grand Alliance), the electoral grouping was seemingly winning more than 227 Assembly constituencies out of the total 288, while the opposition’s alliance “Maha Vikas Aghadi” (Grand Development Front) comprising the country’s main opposition party the Indian National Congress (INC) and others was leading in only 55 Assembly constituencies.
According to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) official website, the BJP alone won 15 Assembly constituencies and was leading in 115 constituencies, as its key alliance partners Shiv Sena won nine Assembly constituencies and was leading in 45 Assembly constituencies, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had won nine Assembly constituencies and was leading in 31 Assembly constituencies.
Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, which also went to polls over the past 10 days, the ruling alliance “INDIA” comprising the INC, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and others were expected to win 56 Assembly constituencies out of the total 81.
Final results in both states were expected to be officially announced by the ECI by late Saturday evening. ■