TOI News Desk
NEW DELHI: Two more exit poll agencies released their projections on Thursday giving boost to Eknath-Shinde led Mahayuti in Maharashtra assembly elections.
According to Today’s Chanakya exit poll predictions, Mahayuti is projected to secure 175 ± 11 seats, while the Congress-led Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) is expected to win 100 ± 11 seats. The agency has projected 13 ± 5 seats for other parties and independents.
Meanwhile, Axis My India also predicted 178-200 seats for Mahayuti and 82-102 for MVA. The agency has predicted 6-12 seats for others and Independents.
The Axis My India exit poll results have also revealed that Eknath Shinde is the preferred chief minister choice at 31 per cent, followed by Uddhav Thackeray at 18 per cent and Devendra Fadnavis at 12 per cent.
With this, the Mahayuti is now projected to win 168 seats, according to the poll of polls, MVA 109 and others are likely to get 11 seats.
The two exit poll results are in line with the projections released a day earlier where most polls on predicted victory for the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra.
On Wednesday, three pollsters – Peoples Pulse, Matrize and Chankya Strategies predicted clear majority for the Mahayuti while three – P-Marq, Dainik Bhaskar and Poll Diary predicted Mahayuti ahead of the MVA, but short of majority.
The Matrize exit poll predicted 150-170 seats for the BJP and allies in Maharashtra with a 48 per cent vote share, it gave the Congress and other allies only 110-130 seats with a vote share of 42 per cent. The poll gave others 8 to 10 seats, with a vote share of 10 per cent. People’s Pulse gave NDA’s Mahayuti a whopping 175-195 seats while giving only 85-112 seats to MVA and 7-12 to others in Maharashtra.
The actual results will be announced by the Election Commission on November 23.
During the 2019 assembly elections, BJP had secured its position as the dominant party by winning 105 seats, whilst their alliance partner Shiv Sena obtained 56 seats. A disagreement over the chief minister’s position led to Uddhav Thackeray’s separation from the BJP. Subsequently, he established the MVA administration with support from Congress and the NCP, which had secured 44 and 54 seats respectively.
The BJP orchestrated its response in 2022 when Eknath Shinde caused a division within the Shiv Sena, leading to the MVA government’s collapse. The BJP then appointed Shinde as the chief minister. The following year, Ajit Pawar’s rebellion against his uncle Sharad Pawar and the subsequent NCP split resulted in the formation of the Mahayuti.
Also see: Jharkhand exit poll results